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Confessions 

of  a 

Pullman  Conductor 


By  Charles  H.   Walbourn 


L.C. 


Index 

Chapter  Page 

Preface   3 

I.  The  "Love  Diplomat" 7 

II.  Billy's  Wedding  Ring 18 

III.    The  Jew  as  an  Offender 27 


IV.    Women  Travelers  as  Flirts.  . .     34  i 


V.  Pullman  Company  Working 

Conditions 44 

VI.  Conductors  in  Stripes 52 

VII.  The  "Bawlout  Man" 58  ! 

VIII.  The  Conductor's  Expense. .. .  62  » 

IX.  Two  Accidents 70  ! 

I 

X.  Writing  the  "Statements" 84  .' 

XI.  Mother  and  Daughter 92  J 

XII.  Married  Spotters 97  \\ 

XIII.  How  the  Spotter  Works 104  ji 

XIV.  The  Porter  in  Upper  No.  1 .  . .  114  |l 
XV.  The  Graft 120  '* 

XVI.  The  Remedy 125 


Confessions  of  a  Pullman 
Conductor 


THE  "LOVE  DIPLOMAT." 


EVERY  one  has  read  or  heard  about 
the  boasted  independence  of  the 
American  girl,  and  how  she  is  able 
to  travel  in  most  any  country  alone,  and 
be  safe  in  knowing  that  slie  is  capable  of 
taking  care  of  herself  under  all  conditions. 
But  this  much  talked  of  ability  of  the 
American  girl,  in  my  estimation,  should 


CONFESSIONS      OF      A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

be  taken  with  a  grain  of  salt,  as  from 
my  personal  observation,  for  the  past 
seven  years,  as  a  Pullman  conductor,  I 
have  concluded  that  it  is  mere  idle  talk. 
The  American  girl,  particularly  the  girl 
from  the  fairly  well  to  do  or  middle  class 
family,  is  generally  helpless  or  incapable 
of  taking  care  of  herself  among  strangers. 
But  here  let  me  say  that  this  is  not 
entirely  the  girl's  fault,  only  in  so  far 
as  she  allows  herself  to  be  taken  in  by 
some  well-dressed  man  with  a  good  line 
of  talk,  who  with  his  plausible  manner 
makes  the  girl  feel  that  he  is  a  perfect 
gentleman ;  that  he  is  just  the  one  to  take 
her  in  charge  and  show  her  to  a  nice 
hotel  or  give  her  any  other  information 
she  desires.  This  man's  intentions  are 
contemptible,  and  the  welfare  of  the  girl 
he  happens  to  be  talking  to  is  not  giving 
him  the  slightest  concern.  He  is  likely 
some   cheap  traveling  man   with   a  wife 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


and  half  a  dozen  children  at  home  and 
wearing  his  wedding  ring  in  his  vest 
pocket. 

Speaking  of  wedding  rings  reminds 
me  of  a  little  story  of  one  that  would  not 
be  out  of  place  here.  This  happened 
some  years  ago,  when  I  was  a  Pullman 
conductor  on  a  train  that  arrived  in  a 
large  city  about  6:30  P.  M.  We  will 
call  this  city  Boston  (because  that  don't 
happen  to  be  its  name).  This  was  Sun- 
day morning  and  this  train  was  a  very 
popular  train,  especially  for  women  going 
into  the  city,  and  on  Sunday  the  travel 
of  this  class  was  always  very  heavy. 

About  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  we 
stopped  at  the  station  of  a  fair  sized 
town.  We  always  were  sure  to  get  pas- 
sengers here  for  the  sleeping  cars,  as  we 
did  on  this  morning.  One  of  these  was 
a  man — we  will  call  him  "Billy"  for  con- 
venience.    There  were  several  of  Billy's 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


friends  down  at  the  station  to  see  him 
safely  started,  including  his  wife  and 
little  daughter  of  perhaps  five  years  of 
age. 

Billy's  wife  (who  was  a  very  pretty 
woman  by  the  way)  wanted  him  to  be 
careful  of  himself,  not  to  take  cold,  and 
to  write  every  other  day  anyway,  and  to 
come  back  as  soon  as  he  possibly  could. 

So,  kissing  his  wife  good-bye  and 
with  a  promise  to  the  little  girl,  who  was 
crying  for  papa  to  bring  her  a  nice  pres- 
ent from  the  city,  with  a  handshake  from 
his  friends  and  being  wished  the  best  of 
luck  by  them  all,  Billy  boarded  the  train, 
and  we  were  ofit*  on  what  proved  to  be  a 
very  exciting  journey,  both  for  Billy  and 
myself. 

Billy  had  no  sooner  got  aboard  than 
he  went  into  the  smoking-room,  which  is 
also  the  wash-room  of  the  sleeping  car, 
and  began  to  wash  his  hands.     It  was  a 

10 


CONFESSIONS      OF      A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

mere  accident  that  I  saw  what  occurred, 
as  I  had  gone  into  the  smoking-room  to 
get  his  ticket  and  saw  him  take  down  a 
towel  to  dry  his  hands.  But,  before  do- 
ing so,  he  removed  a  ring  from  the 
finger  of  his  left  hand  and  placed  it  in 
his  vest  pocket. 

I  merely  happened  to  notice  this  at 
the  time,  but  in  what  happened  afterward 
it  came  back  to  me  with  good  results, 
and  incidentally  was  a  cause  of  saving 
me  my  job. 

He  quickly  removed  a  diamond  ring 
he  was  wearing  on  the  finger  of  his  right 
hand  and  placed  this  ring  upon  the  finger 
from  which  he  had  taken  the  other.  Now 
the  ring  he  had  just  taken  oil  had  been 
a  tight  fit,  necessitating  his  having  to 
wet  his  hands  to  get  it  ofif.  And,  as  every- 
one knows,  a  ring  that  fits  a  little  tight 
will  leave  a  small,  white  circle  around  the 
fiiio-er  from  which  it  has  been  removed. 

11 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

As  Billy  was  wiser  than  the  average, 
and  also  understood  the  advantage  of  a 
diamond  ring  as  an  attraction  over  a  plain 
band  ring,  and  especially  on  that  finger, 
he  had  not  only  taken  the  first  ring  ofif, 
but  had  hid  the  evidence  of  having  worn 
it  with  the  other  ring. 

After  these  details  were  arranged, 
Billy  straightway  appointed  himself 
"Love  Diplomat"  of  the  train  (this  is  the 
right  word,  I  think).  Did  you  ever  see 
a  "Love  Diplomat"  at  work?  They  are 
on  every  train.  Just  watch  this  one  ma- 
neuver with  me. 

Billy  then  proceeded  to  take  a  walk 
up  and  down  the  cars  in  search  of  some 
girl.  But  before  he  began  this  search,  he 
came  back  to  where  I  was  sitting  in  the 
rear  seat  doing  my  work  and  sat  down 
facing  me.  Suddenly  he  remarked,  "Cap, 
Sunday  is  a  good  day  to  ride  this  train, 
as  you  can  always  be  sure  there  will  be 

12 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A      PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

a  bunch  of  swell  'chickens'  going  to 
Boston." 

I  gave  him  a  cold  stare,  but  he  was  of 
the  sort  that  a  stare  will  hardly  make  an 
impression  on.     He  continued  : 

"Who  is  that  little  'pigeon'  sitting  in 
section  six?  Some  class  to  her;  eh,  Cap? 
Think  I  will  take  a  chance  and  try  and 
cut  in  with  her,  for  she  certainly  looks 
good  to  me." 

I  remarked  that  I  did  not  know  who 
the  lady  was  in  section  six,  and  advised 
him  not  to  try  to  talk  to  her,  as  I  did 
not  like  the  way  he  had  spoken.  But  the 
man  of  his  caliber  who  travels — and  there 
are  thousands  of  them — view  all  women 
alone  on  the  train  as  being  there  to  take 
advantage  of,  if  possible.  He  went  on 
to  say : 

"You  see,  conductor,  I  have  to  spend 
the  night  in  Boston  and  I  don't  like  to 

13 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

spend  my  evenings  alone  if  I  can  avoid 
it." 

Now  the  Pullman  company  doesn't 
give  its  conductors  any  authority  to  for- 
bid a  man  to  talk  to  a  woman  on  the  car. 
If  it  did,  you  can  bet  this  crook  would 
never  have  had  a  chance  to  "cut  in,"  as 
he  said,  with  this  young  woman,  as  he 
finally  did. 

I  have  been  approached  before  many 
times  in  my  length  of  servi<:e,  and  have 
been  offered  money  not  to  see  too  much, 
but  somehow  this  man's  coarse  manner 
of  speaking  of  women  and  allowing  his 
intentions  to  be  so  plainly  seen,  caused 
me  to  feel  thoroughly  disgusted.  I  knew 
that  he  was  feeling  me  out,  and  he  knew 
and  I  knew  that  I  was  powerless  to  stop 
him  from  speaking  to  the  girl.  I  only  felt 
repulsion  for  him  and  sorrow  for  his  wife 
and  little  girl  at  home. 

I  said  nothing  more  to  him  and  got 


14 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  PULLMAN  CONDUCTOR 

up  and  left  the  car.  Had  I  said  anything 
more,  it  would  probably  have  resulted  in 
an  argument  that  might  have  ended  in 
blows. 

Upon  coming  back  into  the  car,  as  I 
did  almost  immediately,  I  was  just  in 
time  to  see  him  offer  the  girl  a  magazine. 
He  was  getting  acquainted  by  what  I 
call  "The  Magazine  Route."  It  is  gen- 
erally worked  in  this  manner: 

The  man  walks  past  the  girl  he  wishes 
to  speak  to  several  times  and  if  she  looks 
too  forbidding  for  him  to  deliberately 
address,  he  will  finally  come  up  to  her 
seat  with  a  magazine  and  offer  it  to  her 
with  the  remark: 

"I  saw  you  sitting  here  alone  so  I 
brought  you  a  book  to  read.  There  are 
some  very  interesting  stories  in  it,  if 
you  care  to  read  them." 

Nine  out  of  ten  women  will  fall  for 
this  line  of  talk,  and,  as  generally  hap- 

15 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

pens,  this  one  took  the  magazine.  He 
then  went  and  sat  down  in  his  own  seat. 

Restless  to  pursue  his  quarry,  he 
couldn't  sit  still.  After  about  20  minutes 
he  got  up  and  leisurely  strolled  over  to 
her  section,  and  leaning  carelessly  on  the 
back  of  the  seat,  remarked,  "This  is  a 
pretty  good  book,  isn't  it?" 

They  then  drifted  into  a  conversation. 
He  was  quick  to  take  advantage  of  this 
and  was  soon  sitting  down  in  tlie  seat 
with  her. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  this  works  out. 
The  girl  thinks,  "Well,  he  was  very  cour- 
teous to  allow  me  to  read  his  book  and 
I  can't  be  impolite  after  he  has  been  so 
gentlemanly."  And  now  he  has  all  the 
advantage  and,  believe  me,  these  "Love 
Diplomats"  don't  let  any  grass  grow 
under  their  feet  after  they  have  wormed 
their  way  into  a  conversation. 

16 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

In  this  case  I  don't  know  what  devel- 
oped until  lunch  time.  Then  I  do  know 
he  took  her  into  the  dining  car  to  have 
luncheon,  and  the  dining-car  conductor 
later  told  me  that  after  much  coaxing  on 
his  part,  she  let  him  buy  and  they  drank 
a  bottle  of  wine  together — he  insisting, 
until  she  finally  drank  the  extra  glass. 

That  night  when  we  arrived  in  Boston, 
they  did  not  have  dinner  on  the  dining 
car,  for  Billy  knew  the  advantage  of  a 
Hungarian  orchestra,  and  palms  with  sub- 
dued lights,  a  table  for  two  set  in  the 
niche  of  a  window;  no  one  to  see,  and 
plenty  of  time  to  talk  and  maybe  a  bribe 
to  the  waiter  to  drop  something  in  the 
wine. 

I  say  Billy  knew  all  this,  for  he  was 
of  that  dangerous  world-wise  type  whose 
lack  of  morals  is  easily  discernible  to  the 
experienced  student  of  human  nature. 


17 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

11. 

BILLY'S  WEDDING  RING. 

AFTER  we  had  stopped  at  the  sta- 
tion in  Boston,  and  all  the  passen- 
gers were  off  the  car  except  Billy — 
I  had  not  seen  him  get  off — I  went  back 
into  the  car.  Then  it  was  that  I  saw 
him  frantically  searching  around  his  seat. 
The  girl  whom  he  had  cleverly  enmeshed 
was  waiting  for  him  on  the  station  plat- 
form. As  I  approached  him  (he  had  his 
back  toward  me)  I  heard  him  mutter, 
"It  fit  tight,  too,  so  I  can't  say  I  lost  it." 

I  asked  him  what  he  had  lost,  pre- 
tending not  to  have  heard  his  remark. 

"A  ring,"  he  replied. 

I  told  him  then  that  we  only  stopped 
there   a    few   minutes ;   that   they   would 

18 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


take  the  train  out  to  the  yards  at  once, 
and  that  if  he  would  give  me  his  address, 
I  would  search  the  car,  and  if  I  found 
the  ring  to  have  it  sent  to  him. 

"You  got  on  at ,"  I  said,  giving 

the  point  he  had  boarded  the  train. 

He  then  gave  me  a  street  and  number, 
apparently  his  home  address  in  this  town. 
I  then  asked  him  to  describe  the  ring. 

"Oh,  it  was  just  a  plain  band  ring — in 
fact,  my  wedding  ring,"  he  said  with  a 
smile. 

I  remarked  that  if  it  was  just  his  wed- 
ding ring  he  probably  did  not  mind  losing 
it,  as  it  meant  nothing  to  him. 

He  realized  that  I  was  giving  him  a 
rub,  for  he  got  on  his  dignity  at  once; 
his  face  became  red  and  distorted,  and  he 
looked  more  like  an  animal  than  a  man. 
He  yelled  at  me: 

"What    do   you    mean    by    making   a 

19 


CONFESSIONS   OF  A   PULLMAN   CONDUCTOR 

remark  of  that  kind  to  me?  I  give  you 
to  understand  there  is  nothing  I  value 
more  than  my  wedding  ring.  I  will  make 
it  a  point  to  report  you  to  your  superin- 
tendent for  this  insult  and  I  will  also 
see  that  you  are  discharged.  You  are 
not  fit  to  be  a  conductor  and  the  Pullman 
company  does  not  want  men  of  your 
kind  in  its  service.  I  have  a  notion  to 
make  it  a  personal  matter  and  wipe  up 
this  car  with  you  myself." 

As  he  finished  speaking,  I  took  off 
my  uniform  coat  and  cap  and  throwing 
them  on  the  seat — as  I  was  boiling  mad 
and  anxious  to  get  my  hands  on  him — ■ 
said : 

"Now,  this  is  a  personal  matter,  and  as 
man  to  man  and  not  as  conductor  and 
passenger,  if  you  feel  like  cleaning  this 
car  and  you  think  you  are  equal  to  clean- 
ing it  with  me,  just  say  the  word." 

20 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

He  immediately  came  "back  to  earth" 
and  sizing-  me  up  (I  don't  happen  to  be 
stunted  in  any  way)  he  asked  me  in  a 
more  moderate  tone,  "Conductor,  why  did 
you  make  such  a  peculiar  remark  as  that 
to  me?" 

"Well,"  I  answered,  "first,  let  me  say 
it  is  the  truth,  that  you  have  insulted  your 
wife  and  little  girl  in  everything  you  have 
done  and  said  all  day  and  you  are  not 
going  to  report  me,  and  I  am  not  going 
to  lose  my  job  on  your  account. 

"One  of  the  reasons  is  that  the  woman 
you  have  been  talking  to  all  day  is  wait- 
ing for  you  now;  another  is,  that  no 
sooner  had  you  boarded  the  train  and 
knew  that  your  wife  was  safely  left  be- 
hind than  you  took  off  your  wedding  ring, 
and  as  I  heard  you  say  to  yourself  a  min- 
ute ago  when  your  back  was  toward  me, 
that  it  fit  tight  and  you  could  not  say  you 

21 


CONFESSIONS      OF      A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

had  lost  it.  You  even  had  to  wet  your 
hands  before  you  could  get  the  ring  off. 
Then,  as  it  was  a  tight  fit  and  left  its 
mark  on  your  finger,  you  even  hid  that 
by  wearing  the  diamond  ring  on  the  same 
finger, 

"I  did  not  take  particular  pains  to  see 
all  of  this,  for  you  were  so  raw  about  it 
that  everybody  on  the  train  saw  it.  Do 
you  know  you  belong  to  a  class  of  men 
whom  I  despise.  You  are  the  worst  type 
of  criminal,  either  in  or  out  of  the  peni- 
tentiary. 

"Talk  about  safe  blowers,  hold-up 
men,  or  political  bribers  and  grafters  of 
every  description — you,  and  your  kind, 
are  the  kingpins  of  them  all.  More  crime 
is  committed  by  your  kind,  and  it  is 
directed  against  one  of  the  most  vital 
parts  of  society,  than  by  all  the  others 
combined. 

22 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

"What  is  the  crime  of  murder  and  the 
loss  of  a  single  life  by  some  thug  in  com- 
parison to  the  ruination  of  a  hundred 
women  by  one  of  you?  You  destroy 
homes!  You  cause  two-thirds  of  the 
divorces!  You,  who  try  to  take  advan- 
tage of  every  woman  you  see  alone,  no 
matter  to  you  if  it  be  the  wife  of  your 
best  friend  or  the  daughter  of  your  busi- 
ness partner. 

"The  more  respectable  you  find  your 
victims,  the  harder  you  try  and  the  more 
you  will  scheme  to  accomplish  their  ruin. 
Bah !  And  you  have  the  nerve  to  say  that 
I  am  not  fit  to  be  on  these  cars. 

"What  right  has  a  man  of  your  kind 
to  say  of  another  that  he  is  not  fit?  But, 
I  regret  to  say,  that  if  I  had  not  caught 
you  with  the  goods  that  you — yes,  even 
you— could  have  got  my  job,  for  the  Pull- 
man company  will  not  take  an  employe's 

23 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  PULLMAN  CONDUCTOR 

word,  whether  he  is  right  or  wrong,  when 
he  is  reported  by  some  passenger. 

"I  am  glad  of  this  opportunity  to  tell 
you  just  what  I  think  of  your  class." 

He  turned  around  and  left  the  car 
without  answering.  Incidentally,  he  had 
found  the  ring  in  his  other  pocket  under 
his  watch. 

I  should  like  to  know  what  was  in  his 
mind,  but  it  probably  did  not  strike  very 
deep,  as  he  and  the  girl  walked  away 
together,  and  I  heard  him  say  to  her,  "It's 
funny  how  I  should  misplace  my  scarf 
pin." 

(Needless  to  add,  this  man  made  no 
report  to  the  company.) 

This  is  a  typical  case  and  shows  to 
just  what  extent  these  men  will  go  to 
accomplish  their  purposes,  and  I  give  it 
as  a  warning  to  the  mothers  who  are 
allowing  their  daughters  to  go  back  and 

24 


CONFESSIONS   OF  A   PULLMAN   CONDUCTOR 

forth  to  school  or  make  trips  alone  of 
any  kind  on  trains,  and  to  the  fathers, 
brothers  and  men  who  have  wives  and 
sisters.  Particularly  is  there  danger  on 
the  Pullman  cars.  After  a  parent  has 
placed  his  daughter  or  wife  on  the  sleep- 
ing car  and  paid  for  first-class  accommo- 
dations, thinking  she  will  be  protected 
and  looked  after,  he  overlooks  the  fact 
that  the  selling  rights  for  the  privilege 
of  some  man  to  insult  her  are  held  by  the 
negro  porter. 

Think  of  it!  A  black  man  who  takes 
a  bribe  to  let  some  man  on  the  train  try 
to  take  advantage  of  and  steal  the  repu- 
tation and  good  name  of  your  wife  or 
daughter  and  guarantees  he  will  not  be 
molested ! 

You  did  not  think  it  was  possible 
that  conditions  like  that  could  exist,  did 
you?     Well,  they  do,  for  I  have  seen  so 

25 


CONFESSIONS      OF      A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

much  crookedness  between  men  and 
women  on  sleeping-cars  in  the  past  few 
years  that  I  have  almost  lost  faith  in 
humanity.  The  ruination  of  thousands  of 
women  and  girls  is  either  accomplished 
or  begun  on  the  train. 

The  only  thing  that  will  change  this 
condition  of  affairs  is  to  place  it  before 
the  public  and  arouse  the  sentiment  of  all 
good  people  for  its  correction. 


26 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

III. 

THE  JEW  AS  AN  OFFENDER. 

HERE  let  me  bring  in  the  Jew  who, 
of  all  the  different  kinds  of  men, 
is  the  greatest  offender  among 
this  class  who  travel ;  and  now  remember, 
you  girls  who  happen  to  read  it,  that  a 
Jew  will  not  insult  a  girl  of  his  own  race 
or  religion.  Let  a  Jewess  get  on  a  train 
and  he  will  treat  her  like  a  queen ;  he 
would  no  more  think  of  intruding  on  her 
or  trying  to  insult  her  than  jumping  off 
the  train,  or  giving  away  a  $20  gold  piece, 
which  would  be  much  more  painful  to 
him. 

But  let  an  unaccompanied  American 
girl,  or  one  not  of  the  Jewish  race,  get 
on   the   train   or  accidentally   meet   him, 

27 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

and  he  will  scheme  and  talk,  buy  her 
dinners  and  really  spend  money.  (That 
is  the  only  instance  where  a  Jew  will 
take  a  chance  and  separate  himself  from 
his  money  and  not  be  absolutely  sure  he 
will  get  something  in  return  for  it.)  But 
just  think  of  the  motive   he   has! 

The  fact  that  he  won't  try  it  on  the 
women  of  his  own  race  convicts  him  on 
the  spot.  A  woman  that  allows  herself 
to  be  taken  in  by  a  Jew  must  undoubt- 
edly be  mentally  weak,  and  ought  in  some 
way  to  be  protected. 

Nine  out  of  ten  of  these  men  are  mar- 
ried. (I  will  call  them  men  here  as  it  is 
against  the  law  to  print  what  I  think  they 
should  be  called.) 

I  have  seen  their  despicable  opera- 
tions time  after  time.  They  try  to  get 
acquainted  with  some  unsuspecting 
woman  on  the  car,  and  I  regret  to  say 

28 


CONFESSIONS      OF      A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

that  in  many  cases  they  succeed.  But 
just  watch  one  of  them  as  a  train  draws 
near  his  destination.  He  will  then  shake 
the  girl,  slipping  off  the  train  generally  at 
the  opposite  end  from  where  she  gets 
off.  He  does  this  for  two  reasons :  One 
is  to  avoid  the  porter ;  the  other  is,  that 
if  this  happens  to  be  his  home  town  he 
knows  that  Rachel  and  little  Ikey  and  a 
whole  regiment  of  Jews  will  be  down  to 
see  Abie  come  in ;  and  he  knows  it  would 
be  hard  to  explain  to  Rachel  why  he  said 
good-bye  to  that  Gentile  girl.  But  if  this 
is  not  his  home  town,  he  generally  per- 
suades the  girl  and  succeeds  in  getting 
her  to  go  uptown  with  him. 

I  know  of  nothing  more  sorrowful 
than  a  respectable  American  girl  who  is 
alone  and  finds  herself  entirely  sur- 
rounded by  Jews.  There  is  almost  no 
chance  of  escape  for  her,  and  the  more 

29 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

respectable  and  better  looking  she  is  the 
less  chance  she  will  have.  If  she  is  not 
wise  to  their  contemptible  motives,  or, 
if  she  has  the  vanity  bee  in  her  bonnet 
and  thinks  she  is  so  pretty  that  she 
attracts  all  the  men  around  her,  then  her 
case  is  hopeless. 

In  my  years  of  service  with  the  Pull- 
man company  I  have  been  up  against 
"panhandle"  men,  crooked  land  salesmen 
and  smooth  talking  grafters  of  all  kinds, 
but  for  the  smoothest  talker  of  them  all 
I  take  my  hat  ofT  to  the  Jew.  He  has  got 
a  line  of  soft  soap  that  makes  the  fake 
gold  mine  stock  salesman  look  like  a 
canned  sardine,  so  far  as  smooth  talking 
is  concerned. 

I  am  not  surprised  from  what  I  have 
seen  to  know  that  the  Jews  control  the 
commercial  world  today.    What  surprises 

30 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

me  is  that  there  is  any  one  besides  them 
left  in  the  field  at  all. 

I  don't  want  to  leave  the  impression 
that  Jews  are  the  only  ofTenders  of  this 
kind  who  try  to  take  advantage  of  women 
when  they  find  them  alone.  Other  men 
are  just  as  bad,  but  the  reason  more  Jews 
are  noted  as  belonging  to  this  vile  class 
is  because  there  are  comparatively  more 
of  them  traveling. 

When  we  see  these  things  happen — • 
see  some  man  of  this  kind  meet  a  girl  on 
the  train  and  see  them  leave  together,  it 
makes  one  stop  and  wonder  what's  the 
use  of  schools  and  churches,  of  education, 
or  society — when  some  creature  of  this 
kind  can  in  a  day  or  two  of  accidental 
contact,  literally  tear  down  all  the  teach- 
ings of  some  good  mother  and  the  loving 
advice  and  counsel  of  friends.  More  pit- 
iable is  it  when  one  is  forced  to  stand 

31 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOli 

aside  and  allow  a  cur  of  this  description  to 
persuade  and  poison  a  girl's  thoughts  and 
in  the  end  ruin  her  life  and  future  by 
stealing  her  good  name,  and  then  for  this 
man  to  be  allowed  to  go  on  seeking  other 
women  to  ruin  and  never  thinking  of 
what  he  has  done,  nor  give  the  girl  a 
second  thought. 

I  believe  that  almost  all  women  are 
good  at  heart  and  want  to  live  straight, 
and  would  too  if  given  half  a  chance. 
They  want  to  be  true  to  themselves  and 
to  their  mothers  and  fathers,  and  when 
they  are  married  they  want  to  be  loved 
and  trusted  by  their  husbands  and  friends 
above  all  things. 

Let  a  woman  walk  through  the  lobby 
of  a  hotel  or  down  the  aisle  of  a  car,  or 
up  the  street,  and  nearly  every  man  you 
see  that  is  not  totally  blind  will  be  watch- 
ing her,  and  if  given  a  chance,  if  she  is 

32 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

alone  and  stops  or  sits  down  for  a  minute, 
you  will  see  the  men  begin  to  mill  around 
her  like  cattle  around  a  feed  trough,  or 
I  might  say  vultures  around  their  prey, 
to  use  a  worse  form  of  expression. 

No  woman  voluntarily  goes  wrong; 
some  man  is  back  at  the  beginning  of 
every  woman's  fall,  and  this  contemptible 
element  I  speak  of,  with  the  whole  coun- 
try to  operate  in,  seems  to  increase  year 
after  year.  God  only  knows  how  many 
ruined  lives  they  will  have  to  answer  for 
in  the  hereafter. 


33 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

IV. 

WOMEN  TRAVELERS  AS  FLIRTS. 

IT'S    BEEN    said    that    woman    first 
tempted  man  in  the  Garden  of  Eden 

by  passing  the  apples,  while  it  is 
more  likely  that  Eve  never  would  have 
been  under  this  apple  tree  if  she  had  not 
been  enticed  there  by  Adam. 

From  what  I  have  seen  as  a  Pullman 
car  conductor  women  seem  to  get  the 
flirtation  microbe  in  their  system  when 
they  get  on  the  train,  and  they  will  flirt 
with  most  anything  that  looks  like  a  man 
— that  is  why  I  say  the  American  girl  is 
helpless  to  take  care  of  herself  and  cannot 
withstand  the  talk  of  these  smooth  look- 
ing villains. 

Of  course,  any  one  can  check  a  trunk 

34 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

or  buy  a  ticket  or  find  a  street  or  number 
in  the  city,  but  the  things  the  girl  should 
shun  the  most  in  looking  out  for  herself 
are  the  ones  she  seems  unable  to  with- 
stand in  the  end.  I  have  seen  girls  get  on 
a  car  and  turn  down  half  a  dozen  of  these 
would-be  mashers,  when  finally  one 
comes  along  who  is  a  little  better  looking 
or  a  better  talker  than  the  rest  who  will 
worm  his  way  into  her  confidence ;  but 
not  all  women  can  be  taken  in  by  these 
men — and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  one  of 
these  kind. 

In  a  good  many  cases,  a  woman  on  a 
train  will  stand  a  good  deal  of  insult 
before  she  will  say  anything  to  a  stranger 
about  it,  especially  if  she  has  sat  and 
talked  to  the  masher  all  day  and  had  din- 
ner with  him.  When  something  is  at- 
tempted by  him  that  is  not  quite  proper, 
she  fears  that  if  anything  is  said  by  her 

35 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

to  the  conductor  he  would  ask  her  how- 
it  was  that  she  sat  and  talked  with  this 
man  or  allowed  him  to  talk  to  her,  if  he 
were  not  a  friend  of  hers.  Did  she  not 
think  he  might  attempt  something  by 
allowing  herself  to  become  so  familiar 
with  him  on  such  short  notice? 

But  a  woman  should  never  hesitate  to 
speak  about  a  thing  of  that  kind,  for 
then  the  person  in  authority  can  take 
some  action  that  might  save  her  further 
insult  or  annoyance,  even  though  she  has 
been  indiscreet.  Her  appeal  gives  the 
one  in  authority  a  chance  to  do  some- 
thing about  it,  though  it's  the  conductor 
as  a  man  desiring  to  protect  the  helpless, 
and  not  by  reason  of  any  rules  of  the 
Pullman  company.  Although  a  con- 
ductor knows  in  his  own  mind  that  the 
man  is  crooked  and  is  trying  to  frame 
something   up,   it   is   not   the   trainman's 

36 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

place  to  put  a  stop  to  it  unless  asked  by 
the  woman. 

The  Pullman  conductor  is  very  likely 
in  charge  of  from  one  to  seven  cars  and 
can't  watch  or  know  everything  that  goes 
on  in  each  separate  car.  And,  let  me  say 
here,  that  in  a  good  many  cases  the  Pull- 
man conductor  himself  belongs  to  this 
very  class  of  men.  How  easy  it  is  for 
one  of  these  "Love  Diplomats,"  a  pas- 
senger on  the  car,  to  go  to  the  porter 
and  say,  "Here  is  $5  for  you.  Now,  don't 
see  too  much,"  and  this  porter  will  in- 
variably answer,  "All  right,  boss,"  for  a 
a  man  who  gets  a  salary  of  only  $27.50 
a  month  generally  needs  the  money  even 
though  he  has  sold  the  right  for  some 
man  to  try  and  take  advantage  of  some 
innocent  girl,  and  some  conductors  con- 
done such  conduct. 

I  might  go  on  and  cite  a  hundred  cases 

37 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

that  have  come  under  my  personal  notice 
of  this  character  where  men  have  suc- 
ceeded in  enticing  girls  off  of  trains ;  but 
I  will  relate  one  more  incident  here  that 
is  a  good  illustration  of  how  the  "Love 
Diplomat"  worked  it. 

I  was  in  charge  of  the  Pullman  cars 
on  a  train  that  carried  one  through  sleeper 
and  an  observation  parlor  car.  The  parlor 
car  was  for  the  accommodation  of  seat 
passengers  between  two  large  cities.  We 
left  the  first  city  in  the  morning  and  ar- 
rived in  the  second  one  in  the  evening, 
and  here  the  parlor  car  was  cut  out,  but 
the  sleeper  went  on  through  and  was  for 
the  accommodation  of  through  berth  pas- 
sengers. 

We  had  five  or  six  through  passengers 
occupying  berths  in  the  sleeper.  One  of 
these  was  a  very  pretty  girl  about  18  or 
19  years  old  who  was  going  to  a  small 

38 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


town  in  one  of  the  middle  states.  The 
parlor  car  was  full  of  seat  passengers, 
mostly  going  to  the  city,  which  was  the 
end  of  the  parlor  car's  run. 

One  of  the  passengers  in  the  parlor 
car  was  a  married  man,  so  the  car  por- 
ter informed  me,  as  one  of  this  porter's 
friends  was  porter  in  the  man's  place  of 
business  in  the  city,  which  was  the  start- 
ing   point    of    our    journey.      This    man 
turned  out  to  be  a  "Love  Diplomat"  of 
the  most  violent  type.     He  soon  singled 
out  this  girl  and  it  was  not  long  after 
we   had   started   until   he  was   seated   in 
her  section  talking  with  her. 
J.   A  passenger  who  holds  space  in  any 
Pullman  car  on  a  train  may,  if  there  is 
room,  ride  in  any  car  he  chooses,  regard- 
less  of   where   his    seat    is    located,   and 
this  man,  of  course,  wished  to  ride  in  the 
same  car  with  the  girl  as  he  did  all  day. 

39 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

He  and  the  girl,  as  is  usual  in  this  game, 
had  lunch  together  in  the  dining  car. 

When  we  arrived  in  the  city  of  his 
destination,  and  also  where  the  parlor 
car  stopped,  we  had  about  45  minutes' 
time  before  the  train  was  to  proceed, 
as  the  dining  car  was  also  cut  out  here 
and  two  more  sleepers  added  to  the  train 
for  other  points  of  the  road,  and  this  took 
some  little  time. 

We  left  this  particular  city  rather  late 
at  night,  between  10  and  11  P.  M.  to  be 
exact.  When  we  arrived  here  the  girl 
and  man  got  off  the  car,  he  saying  to 
her,  "Come,  you  have  some  little  time 
here  and  you  can  take  a  walk  around  and 
get  a  little  fresh  air." 

The  girl  turned  to  me  and  asked  "Con- 
ductor, how  much  time  have  we  here?" 

"Forty  minutes  more,"  I  replied,  "and 
we  leave  sharp  on  time,  so  don't  go  far." 

40 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


With  that  they  walked  away,  he  say- 
ing to  her,  "You  can  get  your  postcards 
here." 

The  girl  was  without  her  coat  or  hat, 
therefore  she  was  the  innocent  victim  of 
the  fiend,  who  took  the  girl  far  enough 
away,  or  persuaded  her,  to  miss  the  train ; 
for  that  night  about  12  o'clock  we  re- 
ceived a  telegram  from  her  to  put  her 
baggage  off  at  a  certain  town  in  care  of 
the  station  agent,  as  she  had  missed  the 
train  and  would  get  her  things  next  day. 

Imagine  if  you  can  this  girl  in  this 
strange  town,  with  no  coat  or  hat,  and 
knowing  no  one  besides  the  man  who  had 
picked  her  up  on  the  train.  What  better 
chance  would  this  man  want  than  that? 

This  "Love  Diplomat"  was  like  any 
other  thief  in  so  far  as  he  had  plotted 
and  schemed  along  the  same  lines  as  a 

41 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

highwayman  would  do  to  rob  a  bank, 
only  his  motives  were  much  worse. 

I  might  go  on  and  relate  any  number 
of  these  instances,  but  I  am  not  writing 
a  story  of  fiction  but  facts,  and  I  think  I 
have  proved  my  point  in  the  incidents 
related  that  these  conditions  exist,  and 
I  only  hope  this  article  will  help  to  put 
a  stop  to  such  practices  by  warning 
women  who  travel. 

Before  I  leave  this  subject,  I  want  to 
speak  briefly  of  the  intermingling  of  men 
and  women  of  theatrical  troupes  while 
traveling  on  the  road.  In  some  cases 
these  travelers  will  not  even  allow  the 
berth  curtains  to  be  hung.  The  repulsive 
actions,  the  vice  and  lack  of  any  shred  of 
modesty  on  the  woman's  part,  is  terrible 
to  behold,  and  would  make  even  the  most 
dissipated  turn  away  in  horror. 

Some  way  should  be  forced  by  law  to 

42 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

make  the  Pullman  company  and  sleeping 
car  companies  in  general  arrange  their 
cars  so  that  women  passengers  would 
have  a  part  of  the  car  all  to  themselves 
and  would  have  something  besides  a 
Mohair  curtain  between  themselves  and 
the  gaze  of  curious  men.  Whether  they 
themselves  are  willing  or  not,  it  should 
be  done  on  account  of  the  bad  example  it 
sets  before  innocent  girls  and  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  modest  and  clean  women 
who  are  forced  to  travel. 


43 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


V. 

PULLMAN  COMPANY  WORKING 
CONDITIONS. 

I  AM  now  going  into  the  cause  and 
show  what  are  the  working  condi- 
tions and  salaries  of  the  conductors 
and  porters  of  the  Pullman  company,  and 
will  show  that  on  some  runs  the  men  are 
worked  for  36  hours  without  rest,  until 
they  are  physically  worn  out,  and  then  if 
they  are  caught  asleep  they  are  given  15 
demerit  marks. 

Talk  about  an  eight-hour  day,  or  a 
sixteen-hour  law,  the  Pullman  company 
doesn't  even  observe  a  24-hour  day,  and 
certainly  cares  nothing  for  the  break- 
ing down  of  the  employes'  health  or  the 
driving  out  of  its   services  all  the  men 

44 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

who  are  not  willing  to  be  life  slaves  to 
the  greatest  corporation  and  trust  out- 
side of  the  Standard  Oil  Company;  (and 
one  thing  I  will  say  for  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  is  that  it  treats  its  employes 
fair  and  pays  good  wages). 

We  will  take  as  an  example  one  of  the 
limited  trains  that  operate  between  Chi- 
cago and  San  Francisco.  This  train 
leaves  Chicago,  we  will  say  at  nine  in  the 
morning,  and  the  employes  must  report 
at  least  two  hours  before  leaving  time, 
which  means  that  they  must  get  up  by 
6  o'clock.  The  conductor  is  then  on 
duty  from  8  o'clock  in  the  morning — 
not  counting  the  two  hours  when  he  is 
going  out  to  the  yards  and  making  out 
his  leaving  slip — when  the  porters  are 
preparing  the  cars  for  the  reception  of 
passengers. 

This  train  must  be  in  the  station  at 

45 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

least  one  hour  before  leaving  time  to 
receive  passengers,  and  the  conductor  and 
porters  must  be  there  and  have  every- 
thing in  readiness.  Then  the  conductor 
is  on  duty  from  8  A.  M.  until  3  A.  M. 
the  following  morning,  which  makes  19 
hours  on  duty.  He  then  goes  to  bed, 
but  must  be  up  and  dressed  by  7  A.  M., 
which  makes  him  get  about  three  hours' 
sleep.  He  is  then  on  duty  again  from  7 
A.  M.  until  3  A.  M.  the  following  morn- 
ing, which  is  again  20  hours  at  a  stretch, 
and  it  is  a  three-night  trip  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, or  68  hours,  the  shortest  possible 
time  in  which  the  run  can  be  made.  It 
will  be  seen  that  out  of  68  hours  he  gets 
nine  hours  sleep,  divided  into  three  short 
periods  of  three  hours  a  night,  and,  if  I 
am  not  mistaken,  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission's  16-hour  law  reads 
that  after  a  railroad  man  has  worked  16 

46 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

hours  continuously  he  is  entitled  to  and 
must  have  eight  hours  rest. 

Now  we  will  say  this  train  is  com- 
posed of  five  cars,  which  makes  also  five 
porters  to  be  relieved  for  rest,  and  there 
is  only  one  man  to  relieve  them  and  that 
is  the  conductor;  or,  first  I  will  explain 
that  a  porter  is  supposed  to  sleep  in  the 
smoking-room  and  is  to  be  off  duty  from 
10:30  or  11  o'clock  in  the  evening  until 
3  o'clock  the  next  morning,  which  makes 
four  hours.  Now,  ordinarily,  only  one 
porter  is  allowed  to  go  to  bed  at  a  time, 
but  on  some  trains  two  are  permitted  to 
be  off  duty  at  once,  and  the  conductor 
does  guard  in  both  of  these  cars  and 
looks  out  for  the  wants  of  the  passen- 
gers while  the  porters  are  asleep. 

A  conductor  also  helps  off  any  pas- 
sengers that  have  reached  their  destina- 
tion during  this  time,  and  checks  up  and 

47 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

gives  any  one  boarding  the  train  during 
the  night  accommodations.  He  might  be 
away  from  these  two  cars  when  the 
porters  are  in  bed  for  from  15  minutes  to 
half  an  hour  while  he  is  attending  to  his 
other  duties.  Just  suppose  a  gas  lamp 
should  explode  or  one  of  these  cars  should 
catch  on  fire  during  his  absence!  The 
fact  that  these  things  don't  happen  often, 
does  not  mean  that  they  have  never  hap- 
pened or  are  not  apt  to  occur  at  any 
time. 

Or  suppose  a  "Love  Diplomat"  is  on 
the  job.  What  chance  has  the  conductor 
to  know  what  happens  when  he  has 
picked  up  several  passengers  and  is  in 
some  other  car  checking  them  up? 

But  to  get  back  to  the  porters :  Three 
porters  are  on  duty  all  of  that  first  night. 
You  ask  yourself  when  do  they  get  any 
rest?     Now  listen;  these  three  men  are 

48 


CONFESSIONS   OF  A   PULLMAN   CONDUCTOR 


on  duty  from  9  o'clock  the  first  morning 
until  11  o'clock  the  second  night,  38  hours 
— count  'em.  And  then  only  two  go  to 
bed  unless  the  conductor  is  of  a  generous 
turn  and  lets  the  others  sneak  ofif  in  some 
corner  and  go  to  sleep. 

(The  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Animals  should  drop  the  ani- 
mal end  of  their  society  and  take  up  the 
human  side.) 

What  condition  are  these  men  in  by 
the  third  night  to  attend  to  business  and 
protect  the  passengers?  Why,  common 
sense  would  tell  you  it's  impossible.  Just 
try  working  all  day  until  3  o'clock  in  the: 
morning,  then  get  up  at  7  and  work  un- 
til 3  the  next  morning. 

If  you  are  peevish  and  can't  sleep  and 
have  a  spite  at  yourself  and  want  to  get 
back  at  yourself  good  and  strong,  I  advise 
this  treatment,  and  you  will  find  that  you 

49 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

have  got  self-punishment  down  to  a  fine 
art. 

These  men  are  wrecks  and  walk 
through  the  cars  like  Hamlet's  ghost,  for 
there  is  no  one  thing  that  will  put  a 
man  out  of  the  running  so  quickly  as  to 
continuously  miss  his  sleep  and  rest.  It 
will  undermine  the  strongest  constitution 
and  leave  the  victim  a  fit  subject  for  any 
ordinary  disease. 

Now  for  this  sacrifice  of  health  the 
Pullman  company  shows  its  appreciation 
by  paying  the  porter  the  enormous  salary 
of  $27.50  per  month  and  makes  the  travel- 
ing public  pay  the  balance,  if  there  is  any. 
The  company  stands  for  the  negro  porter 
working  his  petty  graft  on  the  patrons, 
but  if  its  managers  think  some  one  is 
grafting  on  them  they  raise  their  hands 
in  Puritan  horror  to  think  that  any  one, 
and  especially  an  employe,  should  show 

SO 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

such  an  utter  lack  of  appreciation  of  the 
liberaHty  and  good  treatment  that  is  ac- 
corded him  as  to  try  to  beat  his  inno- 
cent, law  abiding  (?)  employers. 

A  conductor  is  paid  $70  for  the  first 
six  months  he  is  employed;  $75  for  the 
second  six  months ;  $80  the  second  year, 
and  $85  from  two  years  until  he  is  in  the 
service  five  years.  Then  he  gets  $90  for 
the  next  five  years,  and  after  ten  years 
he  gets  to  the  pinnacle  of  his  slow  ad- 
vance in  salary,  $95.     He  also  gets  two 

uniforms  a  year  free  after  ten  years'  ser- 
vice. 


51 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

VI. 

CONDUCTORS  IN  STRIPES. 

ASIDE  from  this  the  conductor  is 
decorated  with  two  stripes  on  his 
free  uniform. 

In  Europe  the  rich  have  a  system  of 
dressing  their  servants  in  livery,  with 
a  Httle  "coat  of  arms"  stamped  over  their 
right  eye,  or  in  some  other  conspicuous 
spot,  which  indicates  the  master  to  whom 
they  belong.  So  the  Pullman  company 
has  adopted  that  system  and  makes  its 
servants  wear  its  little  badge.  Also  every 
five  years  they  get  a  stripe. 

In  certain  places  of  confinement  in 
this  country  one  gets  his  stripes  before 
he  serves  his  time,  but  with  the  Pullman 

52 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


company   he   serves   his   time   before   he 
gets  his  stripes. 

But  the  stripes  that  the  state  hands 
its  victims  are  woven  round  a  canvas 
suit,  while  the  ones  the  Pullman  com- 
pany give  are  sewn  around  the  left  arm. 
Both  kinds  denote  serving  time  and  mean 
slavery. 

After  a  conductor  gets  three  stripes  or 
more,  the  company  knows  it  has  got  him 
for  life.  Nothing  in  my  opinion  shows 
plainer  that  you  are  an  utter  failure  than 
to  have  three  or  four  stripes  on  your  arm 
that  you  have  received  for  collecting  divi- 
dends for  the  Pullman  company. 

About  the  only  thing  you  could  qualify 
for  after  fifteen  years'  service  with  the 
Pullman  company  is  a  coachman  or 
butler,  with  a  possible  chance  of  getting 
in  the  waiters'  class,  if  you  were  not  so 
feeble  that  you  were  too  slow. 

With  these  several  stripes  tacked  on 

53 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


the  conductor's  arm  the  company  knows 
that  it  can  keep  rubbing  it  in  until  he 
dies  of  exhaustion  from  loss  of  sleep  and 
rest.  After  twenty  years  service  the 
worm  never  turns. 

With  this  combination  of  brass  but- 
tons, gold  braid,  and  badge,  topped  ofif 
with  a  bellboy's  uniform,  "Solomon  in 
all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of 
these."  The  wearing  of  uniforms  has  de- 
scended from  the  monarchies  of  Europe. 
At  least  a  man  ought  not  to  have  to 
wear  stripes  to  show  him  up  before  the 
traveling  public  as  never  having  earned 
more  than  $95  a  month  for  the  past 
twenty  years.  If  you  want  to  see  a  sad 
specimen  of  a  man  just  take  a  look  at 
most  any  of  these  old  Pullman  con- 
ductors. 

Ninety-five  dollars  per  month  is  the 
highest  regular  salary  paid  by  the  com- 
pany to  its  conductors.    It  takes  you  ten 

54 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

years  to  get  an  advance  of  $25  over  your 
starting  salary,  but  you  must  stay  con- 
tinuously in  the  service  to  draw  $95 ; 
thereby  hangs  the  tale  of  my  salary  of 
$70  a  month  after  seven  years  service. 

I  have  left  and  re-entered  the  service 
since  the  new  rule  went  into  efifect,  but 
my  object  was  otherwise  than  just  to 
work  for  the  salary  or  to  get  the  job 
back.  I  would  no  more  think  of  staying 
in  the  Pullman  company's  employ  for 
life  than  jumping  off  Brooklyn  bridge. 

Let  me  explain  here  that  the  Pullman 
company  has  had  up  to  the  past  year  a 
rule  which,  by  the  way,  was  the  only  good 
rule  it  ever  had,  and  that  rule  has  been 
abolished.  The  rule  was  that  if  a  man 
left  the  service,  he  was  allowed  to  re- 
enter it  at  any  time,  and  if  his  record  was 
good  he  would  be  given  his  old  pay  back, 
the  same  as  he  had  received  when  he 
left  the  service. 

55 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

Now  it  will  employ  him,  but  he  must 
start  as  a  new  man. 

Let  me  say  that  the  average  is  very 
small  of  all  the  men  employed  by  the 
company  who  attain  the  $95  mark.  The 
small  starting  salary,  the  high  expense 
the  man  on  the  road  is  under  and  the 
length  of  time  it  takes  to  reach  an  even 
half-way  decent  salary,  cause  most  of  the 
competent  men,  who  do  enter  the  service, 
to  leave  it  as  soon  as  possible,  and  the 
ones  who  do  stay  are  none  too  efficient, 
and  probably  could  not  make  good  in  any 
other  line  of  work. 

There  is  practically  no  chance  for 
promotion  in  the  Pullman  service,  except 
for  the  men  who  are  willing  to  advance 
at  the  sacrifice  of  other  men.  It  requires 
a  certain  amount  of  questionable  methods, 
and  reporting  of  other  men  to  get  in  line 
for  promotion.  The  man  who  would 
report  another  to  advance  himself,  it  is 

56 


CONFESSIONS      OF      A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

not  reasonable  to  suppose,  would  be  a 
first-class  man.  Speaking  for  myself,  I 
say  where  it  becomes  necessary  for  me 
to  cause  the  downfall  of  other  men  in 
order  to  advance,  I  should  prefer  always 
to  remain  on  the  bottom  round  of  the 
ladder. 

If  one  should  advance  as  high  as  he 
can  go  in  the  service,  to  the  position  of  a 
district  superintendent,  the  pay  is  very 
small  and  the  place  carries  practically  no 
authority. 

I  have  heard  that  some  of  the  officials 
of  the  company  are  in  on  the  graft  of 
owning  stock  in  the  laundries  that  do  the 
company's  work.  One  man  whom  I  know 
of  used  to  have  his  name  upon  the  win- 
dow of  the  office  of  a  large  laundry  which 
did  the  work  for  the  company.  None  but 
the  favored  few  get  in  on  this  graft,  so  I 
presume  these  officials  who  are  in  on  it 
make  some  money. 

57 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  PULLMAN  CONDUCTOR 


VII. 

THE  "BAWLOUT  MAN." 

THE  best  name  I  can  think  of  for 
a  Pullman  superintendent  is  the 
"Bawlout  Man."  He  can  take  no 
decisive  action  without  his  orders  from 
Chicago,  but  he  can  recommend,  sign 
papers  and  put  over  the  "rough  stulT." 
But  the  final  yes  or  no  always  comes 
from  Chicago.  He  generally  has  to 
qualify  as  a  good  bulldozer  before  he 
gets  the  job. 

I  know  one  superintendent  who  would 
get  $10,000  a  year  for  handling  the  same 
territory  and  same  number  of  men  under 
him  if  he  was  working  for  some  contract- 
ing firm  or  commercial  house,  and  his 
salary,  from  what  I  have  been  able  tc 
learn,  is  only  about  one-third  this  amount 
and  generally  less. 

58 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

The  superintendents  of  the  Pullman 
company  have  a  way,  when  an  employe 
is  called  before  them,  of  putting  him  on 
the  defensive,  before  he  can  say  a  word. 
They  seem  to  think  that  if  they  can  bluflf 
him  on  the  jump  and  put  him  in  a  bad 
light  it  will  make  him  give  better  service 
in  the  future.  They  themselves  are 
strong  on  language,  but  some  of  them  are 
rather  weak  in  ability. 

To  my  way  of  thinking,  a  man  who 
believes  he  can  impress  one  with  his  im- 
portance and  get  results  by  using  a  loud 
tone  of  voice  and  trying  to  blufif  be- 
cause he  is  one's  superior,  has  a  great 
deal  to  learn  about  human  nature. 

If  a  man  is  called  before  the  superin- 
tendent, who  tries  to  blufif  him,  even 
though  the  man  is  in  the  right,  and  he 
lets  the  superintendent  impose  on  him, 
the  man  himself  is  no  good,  or  else  he 

69 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

bides  his  time  and  for  his  daily  motto  he 
says,  "Revenge  is  sweet." 

I  have  known  a  man  to  work  through 
the  year  with  a  good  record  and  then  be 
the  victim  of  a  report  that  caused  him  to 
be  given  five  demerit  marks.  This  cost 
him  his  extra  month's  pay,  which  caused 
him  to  continue  work  with  no  other  ob- 
ject than  to  get  revenge  on  the  company 
for  taking  advantage  of  him  in  this 
manner. 

A  man  was  called  before  the  superin- 
tendent once  for  promotion  and  when  he 
arrived  in  Chicago  the  superintendent 
said  to  him: 

*T  have  called  you  here  to  reward  you 
for  the  good  service  you  have  rendered 
the  company,  as  you  have  handled  the 
company's  business  in  a  straightforward, 
honest  and  efficient  manner,  but  in  look- 
ing over  your  record  I  find  one  thing 
wrong." 

60 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN  ..CONDUCTOR 


) )  >  ' 


"What's  that?"  said  the  man,  startled. 

"I  find,"  said  the  superintendent,  "that 
you  have  never  reported  any  one  con- 
nected with  the  company.  You  have 
never  even  'turned  in'  a  porter." 

The  superintendent  meant  that  the 
conductor  had  never  sought  the  good  will 
of  his  superintendent  or  the  company  by 
making  reports  about  other  men. 

"So,"  continued  the  superintendent, 
"I  have  reconsidered  the  matter  and  can- 
not give  you  any  promotion." 

The  fact  that  this  man  had  had  the 
ability  to  settle  all  his  difficulties  himself 
and  give  good  service  caused  him  to  lose 
a  much  deserved  promotion.  They 
wanted  him  to  "turn  men  in,"  and  make 
bad  reports  about  other  men  to  his  super- 
intendent. That's  why  I  say  the  only 
way  to  advance  in  the  Pullman  service 
is  to  push  other  men  down.  Therefore 
any  advancement  the  employe  gets  is 
not  worth  the  loss  of  self-respect. 


61 


■CON'FK?  SIGNS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

VIII. 

THE  CONDUCTOR'S  EXPENSE. 

1KEPT    an    account    once    for    three 
months  of  what  I  spent  as  a  Pull- 
man conductor  on  the  road.     When 
I  was  drawing  $90  per  month,  my  ex- 
penses on  the  road  ran  from  $28  to  ^37 
each  month. 

Now  I  am  a  married  man,  as  all  good 
citizens  should  be,  and  my  total  expenses 
amounted  to  just  $87  a  month,  and  then 
my  brother-in-law  was  boarding  with  us, 
which  helped  out  considerably.  I  had  the 
enormous  surplus  of  $3  a  month  to  save 
against  sickness  or  an  accident.  My  wife 
and  I  were  living  along  the  most  eco- 
nomical lines  and  spending  no  money 
foolishly. 

62 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


One  of  the  greatest  assets  of  the  Pull- 
man company  in  the  past  has  been  the 
fact  that  the  best  hotels  all  over  the 
country  would  gladly  give  a  Pullman 
conductor  a  room  and  his  meals  free  for 
the  patronage  he  might  send  their  way. 
Also  the  railroads  were  courteous  enough 
to  make  a  25-cent  rate  for  meals  in  their 
dining  cars  and  eating  houses.  I  might 
say  that  only  one  road  still  maintains  this 
25-cent  rate;  all  others  charge  one-half 
rates  to  Pullman  employes. 

As  an  illustration:  Jf  a  steak  costs  a 
passenger  60c,  we  get  it  for  30c.  I  should 
have  said  the  passenger  pays  90c,  and  we 
pay  45c,  as  that  is  nearer  the  average 
now.  The  company  used  to  point  out 
to  employes  that  it  would  cost  practically 
nothing  to  live  on  the  road,  and  the  pay 
was  good  under  the  circumstances,  but 
the  time  is  past  when  hotels  at  any  point 


63 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

of  the  country  will  give  conductors  a 
room  free.  The  most  common  meal  costs 
from  40c  to  55c  even  with  the  cut  rate. 
Just  figure  a  conductor  drawing  $70  or 
$75  a  month,  or  $2.33  a  day !  An  ordinary 
laborer  is  paid  from  $2.50  to  $3  for  an 
eight-hour  day,  and  this  laborer  is  not 
taking  in  hundreds  of  dollars  for  his 
employer. 

I  despise  the  man,  and  a  good  many 
conductors  are  of  this  kind,  who  poses 
as  a  model  of  honesty.  There  is  a  whole 
lot  of  people  who  think  they  are  too  good 
to  live;  pretend  they  have  a  clear  con- 
science and  high  principles,  while  really 
what  they  have  is  a  yellow  streak,  and 
cold  feet.  They  are  so  honest  it  hurts 
them.  What  they  are  really  suffering 
from  is  lack  of  nerve  and  fright — that  is 
why  they  are  honest.  I  have  known  men 
of  this  kind  who  mistreated  their  fam- 

64 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A      PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


ilies  and  were  crooked  in  petty  things, 
but  still  bragged  about  their  honesty. 

I  have  a  certain  amount  of  admiration 
for  a  crook  who  will  rob  a  bank  or  hold 
up  a  train,  but  I  don't  think  much  of  the 
porch  climber  who  will  steal  your  Sunday 
dinner  out  of  your  ice-box  on  Saturday 
night  or  talk  about  you  behind  your  back. 
When  you  see  a  man  going  around  with 
a  sanctified  air  and  is  so  good  that  it 
sticks  out  all  over  him  and  has  a  repu- 
tation for  honesty  (when  some  one  is 
looking) — I  say,  watch  that  purified  saint 
or  he  will  steal  your  wife.  He  is  work- 
ing under  a  false  trademark,  and  hell  is 
full  of  his  breed,  and  many  of  them  were 
produced  by  the  Pullman  Palace  Car 
Company. 

The  free  rooms  and  meals  of  the  past 
are  no  more  since  the  high  cost  of  living 
has  got  in  its  work.  Do  you  get  anything 
for  nothing  now?     No,  not   so  you  can 

65 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

notice  it.  The  Pullman  company  dislikes 
to  see  this  asset  get  away  from  it,  so  I 
understand  the  managers  took  the  matter 
up  with  one  of  the  great  roads  of  the 
west.  To  get  a  better  rate  in  dining  cars 
and  eating  houses  for  the  Pullman  em- 
ployes running  over  this  system,  the 
answer  of  the  president  of  this  road  to 
the  Pullman  company  was  not  flattering. 
He  said :  "The  fact  that  the  Pullman 
company  did  not  pay  its  employes  enough 
so  that  they  could  buy  their  meals  did 
not  cause  him  to  see  why  his  road  should 
board  them  at  a  loss.  In  fact,  the  road 
has  been  considering  taking  away  the 
rates  that  they  were  getting,  and  extend- 
ing the  courtesies  of  rates  in  future  only 
to  the  actual  employes  of  its  own  road," 
or  words  to  that  general  effect. 

Now  when  a  new  conductor  sees  what 
he  is  up  against  and  that  it  costs  him 
$1.25  of  his  daily  wage  for  his  meals,  with 

G6 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

perhaps  wife  and  family  to  keep  (he  may 
have  taken  in  $50  that  day  for  the  com- 
pany), he  scratches  his  head,  or  pulls  his 
hair  if  he  has  any.  If  he  is  long  in  the 
service,  he  can  only  scratch  and  ask, 
"Where  do  I  get  off  at?  I  worked  all 
night  last  night  and  all  day  today,  and  it 
looks  to  me  as  though  I  am  almost  pay- 
ing the  company  for  the  privilege  of 
working  for  it." 

And  still  there  is  a  question  of  why 
men  are  dishonest.  The  surprising  part 
is  that  there  are  any  honest  ones  left. 

Before  I  leave  the  subject  of  rates  in 
dining  cars,  I  want  to  say  that  this  thing 
of  being  given  a  rate  is  one  of  the  most 
humiliating  features  of  working  for  the 
Pullman  company.  You  can't  go  in  the 
car  and  eat  any  time  you  wish,  like  other 
guests,  but  on  account  of  getting  this 
rate  you  must  either  go  in  early  or  late 
so  as  not  to  take  up  the  room  of  some 

G7 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

one  who  can  afford  to  pay  the  full  rate. 
Some  of  the  roads  even  specify  when 
employes  shall  be  served  and  have  a  table 
over  in  one  corner  of  their  eating  houses 
where  the  trainmen  must  eat;  but  the 
unwritten  law  is  that  they  mustn't  go 
into  the  dining  car  when  there  is  a  likeli- 
hood of  the  chairs  being  needed  by  the 
passengers. 

There  is  not  a  commercial  house  in 
existence,  which  if  its  managers  thought 
that  one  of  its  men  on  the  road  was 
sneaking  around  looking  for  a  second- 
rate  hotel  and  was  trying  to  live  cheap 
and  thus  reflect  on  the  concern,  but 
would  be  discharged  on  the  spot.  The 
Pullman  company  is  the  only  company 
that  I  know  of  which  has  men  on  the 
road  who  are  not  allowed  an  expense 
account.  Think  of  it!  A  company  with 
a  capital  of  over  a  hundred  million  dol- 
lars, with  the  largest  earning  caoacity,  I 


68 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

presume,  of  any  concern  of  its  size  in 
existence,  and  whose  stock  sells  around 
sixty  per  cent  above  par. 

It  not  only  does  not  pay  fair  salaries 
or  allow  an  expense  account,  but  forces 
its  men  to  humiliate  themselves  by  having 
to  accept  charity  in  order  to  live.  For 
instance,  if  there  is  a  small  steak  that  is 
not  large  enough  to  serve  to  a  passenger, 
or  the  first  cut  ofif  the  roast,  it  will  be 
served  to  him  by  the  waiter  with  a  whole 
lot  of  condescension,  who  makes  him  feel 
that  he  is  lucky  enough  to  get  anything 
to  eat  in  the  dining  car  at  all. 

It  should  be  against  the  law  to  give 
any  class  of  men  a  cut  rate.  For  one 
thing  it  is  not  fair  to  the  one  who  pays 
full  rates,  and  any  firm  that  compels  men 
to  be  away  from  home  should  be  forced 
to  pay  their  expenses  or  equivalent  in 
wages. 

6d 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


IX. 

TWO  ACCIDENTS. 

I  AM  going  to  relate  here  two  inci- 
dents that  will  illustrate  better  than 
anything  else  just  how  the  company- 
treat  the  men  whom  it  expects  to  serve 
it  faithfully.  This  treatment  was  ac- 
corded myself  on  one  occasion,  and  to 
another  conductor  working  out  of  the 
same  district,  who  was  blufifed  so  badly 
that  the  company  would  not  even  pay 
him  his  salary  when  he  was  injured  in 
an  accident,  and  was  not  able  to  work 
for  some  time  on  account  of  it.  I  will 
relate  what  they  handed  to  me  first,  as 
it  is  not  so  bad  as  the  other. 

The  passenger  train  I  was  on  at  this 
time  collided  head-on  with  a  freight  train. 

70 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


This  collision  was  caused  by  the  attend- 
ant at  a  junction  point  not  throwing-  the 
switch  properly  where  the  road  changed 
from  a  single  track  to  a  double  track  sys- 
tem. Our  train  was  supposed  to  take  the 
southbound  track,  while  the  other  train 
was  standing  on  the  northbound  track 
waiting  for  our  train  to  pass  so  it  could 
proceed  on  the  single  track  we  were 
leaving. 

The  attendant  of  the  switch  tower 
gave  our  engineer  the  board  and  signaled 
"Everything  All  Right."  We  were  mov- 
ing along  at  about  twenty  miles  an  hour 
when  the  engineer  received  the  signal. 
He  pulled  the  throttle  open  and  away  we 
went  into  the  open  switch,  head-on,  into 
the  waiting  freight  train — with  a  fright- 
ful crash.  (I  am  telling  all  this  to  show 
that  it  was  not  my  fault  I  was  hurt  in  the 
accident  which   followed.     The  Pullman 


71 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

company  and  railroad  company  appar- 
ently seemed  to  think  it  was  from  the 
way  they  acted.) 

In  the  mixup  which  followed  I  re- 
ceived a  badly  cut  forehead  and  had  a 
bone  broken  in  my  foot.  After  about  two 
hours'  delay  they  got  the  cars  untangled 
and  we  finally  reached  the  division  point 
a  few  miles  away  with  what  cars  that 
were  not  torn  up  or  damaged  so  badly 
they  could  not  be  moved.  Upon  our 
arrival  there,  a  company  doctor  boarded 
the  car  and  examined  the  ones  who  were 
injured.  This  doctor  told  me  he  did  not 
have  the  proper  instruments  to  work  with 
and  could  not  tell  how  bad  the  bone  in 
my  foot  was  broken.  Also  he  did  not 
have  any  splints  to  set  it  with,  but  would 
give  temporary  treatment  and  advised 
me  to  go  back  to  St.  Louis  at  once,  telling 
me  to  go  direct  to  the  company  hospital. 

72 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

He  insisted  upon  my  going  to  the  com- 
pany hospital  in  preference  to  getting  a 
doctor  of  my  own,  going  on  to  say  that 
I  was  entitled  to  it.  After  a  good  deal  of 
red  tape  I  finally  succeeded  in  getting  a 
pass  by  telegraph  and  returned  to  St. 
Louis  next  day. 

Immediately  upon  my  arrival  I  re- 
ported to  the  chief  clerk  of  the  hospital. 
I  was  given  treatment  by  one  of  the 
doctors  and  told  to  call  at  a  regular  hour 
each  morning,  which  I  did  for  several 
days.  Then  upon  going  to  the  hospital 
one  day  the  doctor  called  me  aside  and 
said: 

"I  am  sorry,  but  I  have  orders  not  to 
give  you  any  further  treatment." 

Upon  asking  him  what  the  trouble 
was  he  said  he  did  not  know,  only  that  it 
was  the  chief  clerk's  orders.  He  asked 
me  to  come  with  him  to  the  office  and 

73 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

we  would  find  out.  The  clerk  explained 
he  had  received  orders  to  telephone  to 
the  Pullman  company  and  find  out  if  they 
would  be  responsible  for  my  hospital  bill. 
The  answer  he  received  from  the  division 
superintendent  of  the  Pullman  company 
was  to  the  effect  that  if  the  "conductor 
wants  a  doctor  or  treatment  at  the  hos- 
pital let  him  pay  for  it  himself,  as  we 
will  not  pay  any  bills." 

I  could  not  find  out  from  the  clerk 
who  originally  raised  the  question  as  to 
who  was  going  to  pay  for  my  treatment. 
You  would  have  thought  from  the  way 
they  acted  that  my  whole  idea  in  being 
hurt  was  to  get  free  hospital  attendance. 
They  could  not  see  how  it  was  their  fault, 
as  of  course  it  was  not,  for  they  were 
only  doing  as  they  were  ordered.  The 
fault  was  with  the  management  who  had 
hired  a  cheap  twenty  dollar  a  month  man 

74 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  PULLMAN  CONDUCTOR 

to  guard  a  very  important  post  instead 
of  paying  decent  wages  so  they  could  get 
a  man  of  intelligence  and  ability  to  look 
out  for  the  public  safety. 

I  told  the  clerk  that  I  would  not  think 
of  imposing  on  the  Iron  Mountain  Rail- 
road or  the  Pullman  Company  by  making 
them  pay  out  money  for  me,  with  my 
enormous  salary  of  $85  a  month  and  it 
seemed  it  was  apparently  my  fault  any- 
way. From  the  hospital  I  went  direct  to 
the  division  superintendent's  office  and 
when  I  stepped  in  the  office  force  must 
have  seen  something  was  wrong,  for  upon 
my  entering  one  of  the  clerks  came  over 
and  asked,  "What  is  the  matter?" 

"I  would  like  to  see  the  man  who 
telephoned  out  to  the  hospital  about  my 
case,"  I  replied. 

The  clerk  happended  to  be  a  good 
friend  of  mine,  as  he  had  come  up  from 
the    district   office.      I   explained   to   him 

75 


CONFESSIONS   OF  A   PULLMAN   CONDUCTOR 

what  kind  of  a  message  had  been  sent 
out  to  the  hospital.  He  said  the  rail- 
road people  had  called  up  in  reference  to 
me  and  that  the  division  superintendent 
had  instructed  them  to  deliver  the  mes- 
sage that  had  been  sent.  The  superin- 
tendent was  not  in  the  office  at  the  time 
and  I  always  regret  that  I  did  not  get  an 
opportunity  to  tell  him  about  the  small- 
ness  of  this  trick. 

Can  you  imagine  anything  smaller 
than  this?  Two  big  corporations  bandy- 
ing words  back  and  forth  over  a  $10 
hospital  bill  for  an  underpaid  employe 
who  was  hurt  while  on  duty  by  their 
own  carelessness.  Pretty  small,  don't  you 
think? 

I  told  the  clerk  that  I  had  had  no 
intention  before  of  making  a  claim,  but 
now  that  I  was  going  over  to  see  the 
claim  agent  of  the  railroad.  It  was  about 
ten  minutes  walk  from  this  office  to  the 

76 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

claim  agent's  ofifice,  but  as  I  was  walk- 
ing with  a  cane  at  the  time  it  was  prob- 
ably twenty  minutes  before  I  reached  the 
office.  I  have  a  suspicion  that  some  one 
from  the  Pullman  office  telephoned  over 
to  look  out  for  me,  as  I  was  coming  to 
their  office  and  was  looking  for  trouble. 

One  of  the  glad-hand  men  met  me  at 
the  door,  and  calling  me  by  name  took 
me  by  the  hand,  like  I  was  a  long  lost 
brother,  then  passed  out  a  lot  of  bunk 
about  a  mistake  having  been  made  and 
for  me  not  to  bother  about  a  bill  from  the 
hospital  as  they  had  not  known  what 
they  were  talking  about.  He  wound  up, 
"You  just  go  home  and  rest  easy  and  do 
not  come  back  to  work  until  you  feel  like 
it,  as  you  will  not  lose  a  thing  or  have 
to  pay  any  bills  whatever." 

There  was  nothing  for  me  to  do  but 
go  home  and  rest  easy  as  he  said,  which 
I  was  very  glad  to  do.     When  I  arrived 

77 


CONFESSIONS   OF  A   PULLMAN   CONDUCTOR 

home  that  day  a  very  amusing  thing 
occurred.  It  had  been  a  matter  of  ten 
or  twelve  days  since  the  wreck  and  up 
to  that  time  neither  the  Pullman  com- 
pany nor  the  railroad  company  had  seen 
fit  to  take  enough  interest  in  my  case  to 
send  a  man  out  to  my  home,  to  see  how 
I  was  getting  along.  It  was  no  concern 
of  theirs,  it  seemed,  whether  I  lived  or 
died.  On  this  day  the  Pullman  com- 
pany must  have  got  busy,  for  when  I 
arrived  home  one  of  the  men  from  the 
office  was  waiting  to  see  me.  He  said 
he  had  come  out  to  see  how  I  was  get- 
ting along,  that  the  superintendent  had 
said  for  me  not  to  come  back  to  work 
until  everything  was  all  right  and  to 
take  my  own  time.  It  was  very  odd 
how  much  interest  they  began  to  take  in 
my  welfare  all  of  a  sudden. 

I  had  been  told  by  the  chief  clerk  of 
our  office  before  this  that  I  need  not  ex- 

78 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

pect  the  company  to  pay  me  for  the  time 
I  was  off,  and  unless  I  had  accident  in- 
surance, I  would  have  to  lose  my  pay 
for  the  time  I  was  hurt.  He  explained 
that  I  had  signed  a  printed  form  when  I 
was  employed  by  the  company,  whereby 
I  had  agreed  to  waive  all  responsibility 
against  the  company,  as  damages  or  pay 
for  the  time  lost  as  a  result  of  accident. 
This  agreement  the  employe  has  to  sign 
before  he  goes  to  work  for  the  company, 
and  is  a  great  piece  of  ingenuity.  Who- 
ever the  man  was  that  arranged  this 
agreement  was  an  artist,  as  it  takes  in 
about  everything  from  snakebite  to 
getting  a  cinder  in  your  eye. 

The  chief  clerk  went  on  to  say  that 
my  accident  insurance  would  cover  the 
case.  From  his  argument  it  would  seem 
that  the  $18  a  year  I  was  paying  out  of 
my  own  pocket  for  an  accident  policy 
was  not  protecting  me,  but  was  protect- 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PtTLLMAN     CONDL'CTOR 

ing  the  company  against  myself.  That 
was  a  rather  bad  argument  for  me  but  a 
good  one  for  the  company.  Though  I, 
had  realized  the  danger  of  my  occupation 
and  had  taken  out  an  accident  policy, 
they  took  the  position  that  they  were  re- 
lieved of  all  risk,  although  in  the  end 
they  paid  both  for  my  time  and  the  hos- 
pital expenses.  The  funny  part  about 
it  was  they  asked  me  to  sign  a  release 
before  they  would  give  me  the  check,  so 
you  see  they  knew  the  printed  agreement 
they  had  forced  me  to  sign  when  I  was 
employed  was  a  farce  and  would  not  hold 
good  in  court. 

I  will  now  tell  how  the  company  used 
these  same  methods  in  another  case. 
This  conductor  was  not  even  paid  his 
salary.  The  accident  that  happened  to 
him  occurred  in  this  manner:  The  train 
he  was  on  was  approaching  some  little 
to\Vn  and  the  conductor  had  stepped  out 

80 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     I'ULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

between  the  cars  preparing  to  get  out  at 
the  station  to  receive  passengers.  One 
of  the  porters  was  out  between  the  sleep- 
ing cars  sweeping  off  the  vestibule,  also 
in  preparation  for  this  town.  This  con- 
ductor waited  on  the  other  platform  until 
the  porter  had  finished  sweeping.  The 
porter  then  started  to  open  the  door  of 
the  car  to  put  the  broom  away,  when 
the  train  gave  a  violent  lurch  and  threw 
the  conductor  back  against  the  door,  also 
throwing  the  porter  back  towards  the 
conductor.  The  porter,  in  his  wild 
scramble  to  keep  from  falling,  threw 
the  broom  back  over  his  shoulders  and 
plunged  the  small  end  of  the  handle  into 
the   conductor's   eye. 

When  this  conductor  arrived  in  St. 
Louis  he  was  taken  home  at  once  and  a 
doctor  was  called.  Then  for  the  next 
two  months  it  was  a  question  whether 
he  would  not  lose  his  eyesight  altogether. 

81 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

It  cost  this  man  more  than  $100  and 
the  loss  of  three  months'  salary,  aside 
from  all  his  expenses,  when  he  was  at 
home  sick.  Besides  his  injury  was  of  a 
very  painful  nature  and  he  suffered  ter- 
ribly during  the  first  two  months. 

I  understand  that  the  railroad  com- 
pany, as  well  as  the  Pullman  company, 
did  not  take  the  trouble  in  either  case 
to  send  a  man  out  to  investigate  this 
man's  condition.  It  showed  an  utter  lack 
of  appreciation  on  the  Pullman  com- 
pany's part,  for  I  know  for  a  positive 
fact  that  this  man  gave  good  service  and 
was  a  first-class  man. 

Imagine  being  in  a  pitch  dark  room 
under  the  care  of  a  specialist  trying  to 
save  yourself  from  going  blind,  and  then 
to  have  the  people  who  were  indirectly 
to  blame  for  your  condition  treat  you  in 
this  manner. 

When   I   last   saw  this  conductor  he 

82 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

was  Still  having  trouble  with  his  eyes. 
After  about  three  months'  time,  when 
he  went  back  to  work,  he  wrote  several 
very  touching  letters  to  the  officials  of 
the  company  asking  pay  for  the  time  he 
had  lost,  explaining  the  position  he  was 
in  and  what  the  accident  had  cost  him 
in  the  way  of  doctor  bills,  and  loss  of 
time,  with  other  extra  expense,  placing 
him  in  a  very  bad  position  financially. 

The  company  answered  him  by  saying 
it  could  not  see  how  it  was  responsible 
under  the  circumstances  and  therefore 
could  not  allow  anything  on  account  of 
this  accident.  The  last  time  I  saw  this 
conductor  he  told  me  he  had  not  re- 
ceived a  penny  from  either  company. 

You  will  see  by  these  two  cases  that 
the  Pullman  company  does  not  give  its 
employes  the  square  deal  that  they  ex- 
pect, on  entering  the  service,  to  receive. 

83 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

X. 
WRITING  THE  "STATEMENTS." 

1WANT  to  say  a  few  words  here 
about  the  writing  of  statements,  as 
that  is  one  of  the  most  amusing 
things  about  working  for  the  Pullman 
company.  If  a  passenger  should  expec- 
torate out  of  the  window  and  hit  a  car 
cleaner  or  section  hand  in  the  eye,  the 
conductor  and  porter  must  write  a  state- 
ment about  the  case.  The  fact  that  they 
may  not  have  seen  it  or  know  anything 
about  it  makes  no  difiference.  They  must 
state  why  this  passenger  preferred  to  ex- 
pectorate in  this  man's  eye  in  preference 
to  the  cuspidor,  with  any  other  facts  that 
have  a  bearing  on  the  case.  This  parti- 
cular illustration  is  fiction,  of  course,  but 
in    truth    we    have    to    write    statements 

84 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

about  things  more  trivial  than  this.  I 
venture  to  say  that  if  all  the  statements 
that  have  been  written  by  conductors 
and  porters,  if  placed  side  by  side,  would 
cover  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Every  time  we 
turn  around  we  must  write  a  statement. 
Here  is  a  little  story  that  goes  the  rounds 
among  the  employes  of  the  company 
about  writing  of  statements. 

A  conductor  was  supposed,  so  the 
story  goes,  to  have  had  a  dream,  and  in 
this  dream  he  thought  he  had  gone  to 
heaven.  It  would  be  very  interesting  to 
know  just  what  this  man  had  eaten  for 
dinner,  as  it  must  have  been  something 
rich  to  cause  a  Pullman  conductor  to 
dream  he  had  gone  to  heaven.  However, 
he  dreamed  he  and  George  Pullman  ar- 
rived at  the  gates  of  St.  Peter  together. 
Both  knocked  at  the  same  time  and  St. 
Peter  opened  the  gate  about  an  inch  and 
asked,  "Who's  there?" 

85 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

"George  Pullman,  the  originator  of 
the  palace  on  wheels,"  answered  Pullman. 

"What  did  you  ever  do  for  humanity?" 
queried  St.  Peter. 

"I  invented  the  sleeping  car  so  a  pas- 
senger could  travel  in  comfort  on  a 
train,"  said  George,  "and  I  build  my  cars 
so  well  that  the  first  sleeper  constructed 
is  still   running." 

"Did  you  invent  the  upper  berths?" 
asked  St.  Peter. 

"I  did,"  said  George. 

"Well,  in  that  case,"  said  St.  Peter, 
"go  down  below  to  the  hot  air  chamber 
and  write  a  statement." 

"Going  down,"  howled  the  elevator 
imp. 

Then,  turning  to  the  conductor,  St. 
Peter  said,  "And  what  did  you  do?" 

"I  was  a  conductor  for  the  Pullman 
company,"  said  the  man. 

86 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

"Did  you  live  up  to  the  book  of 
rules?"  said  St.  Peter. 

"I  did,"  said  the  conductor. 

"Come  on  in,  then,  you  have  had  hell 
enough." 

*     *     * 

I  don't  say  this  is  a  fact,  but  it  is 
my  opinion  that  the  Pullman  Company, 
with  its  small  pay,  the  expensive  sur- 
roundings the  employes  are  forced  to 
face,  and  the  rules  under  v^hich  they  are 
forced  to  work,  has  caused  more  men  to 
become  dishonest  than  any  other  one 
thing  in  this  country.  The  company  has 
plenty  of  good  men  in  its  employ,  but 
there  are  not  very  many  of  them  who 
stay ;  they  are  forced  out  by  the  working 
conditions  and  small  pay.  The  company 
claims  it  costs  several  hundred  dollars  to 
break  in  a  new  man  as  a  conductor.     If 

87 


CONFE.-5IO.VS      OF     A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

some  of  this  cost  had  been  taken  to  pay 
a  little  more  salarj',  they  would  have 
made  more  money  in  the  end,  as  there 
are  as  many  ex-Pullman  conductors  as 
there  are  men  in  the  standing  army  of 
the  United  States. 

I  have  heard  that  one  official  of  the 
company,  in  a  brilliant  burst  of  intelli- 
gence, once  said,  "that  he  could  get  all 
the  Pullman  conductors  he  wanted  for 
S50  per  month,"  and  I  say,  speaking 
along  these  same  lines,  "You  could  get 
all  the  men  you  wanted  to  be  cashiers  of 
banks  for  S40  per  month."  But  what 
kind  of  men  would  they  be?  There's  the 
rub. 

The  company  does  not  use  cheap  ma- 
terial in  its  cars,  so  why  should  it  not 
use  the  same  judgment  in  the  choosing 
of  men? 

There   would   be   no   reason   for   em- 
88 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

ployers  to  pay  high  wages  to  good  men 
who  stick  if  it  could  get  men  of  the  same 
ability  for  small  pay.  As  long  as  the 
Pullman  company  figures  that  it  can  get 
a  man  worth  $150  a  month  for  $70  a 
month,  it  will  be  changing  its  organiza- 
tion of  conductors  about  every  two  years 
until  the  United  States  is  as  old  as  Jeru- 
salem. Intelligence,  staying  qualities  and 
also  honesty  must  be  paid  for  the  same 
as  an  all-wool  suit  of  clothes.  It  makes 
no  difTference  whether  you  get  good  ma- 
terial wrapped  up  in  a  man's  body  or 
in  a  pasteboard  box;  if  it  is  a  high  class 
article,  and  you  expect  it  to  stand  the 
wear  and  tear  of  hard  usage,  you  won't 
get  it  at  a  bargain  sale. 

About  four  years  ago,  a  petition  went 
into  the  general  offices  of  the  company 
signed  by  practically  all  of  the  conductors 
in    the    service    asking    for    more    pay. 

89 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  PULLMAN  CONDUCTOR 

This  first  petition  was  ignored.  Then  a 
few  months  later  another  was  sent  in 
asking  for  the  same  thing.  Then  the  of- 
ficials began  to  sit  up  and  take  notice,  but 
they  dodged  the  question  and  with  a 
blare  of  trumpets  and  a  little  hot  air, 
which  came  out  in  the  papers,  stated  that 
the  Pullman  company  was  going  to  show 
its  liberality  and  appreciation  for  its  em- 
ployes by  giving  each  one  who  went 
through  the  year,  beginning  on  each 
January,  with  a  clear  record,  an  extra 
month's  pay  free. 

The  announcement  said  that  this  was 
voluntary  on  the  company's  part  and 
showed  how  many  thousands  of  dollars 
this  generosity  would  cost  it.  Of  course, 
if  you  take  20,000  men  and  give  them  $2 
apiece,  it  will  amount  to  a  fortune,  but 
this  $2  won't  cause  any  one  of  these  in- 
dividuals to  get  gray-headed  wondering 
what  he  will  do  with  all  of  this  wealth. 

90 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

I  am  now  going  into  the  means  used 
by  the  Pullman  company  to  force  honesty 
and  get  good  service  out  of  cheap  men. 
Let  me  say  here  that  ninety-five  per  cent 
of  the  men  hired  by  the  company  are 
honest  men  whose  intentions  are  good, 
but  the  continual  firing  of  conductors 
and  hiring  of  new  men,  caused  by  the 
manner  in  which  the  men  are  treated, 
with  the  small  pay  and  being  watched 
at  all  times  as  though  they  were  escaped 
convicts,  prevents  many  self-respecting 
employes  remaining  long  in  the  com- 
pany's employ. 

I  heard  a  district  superintendent  of 
the  company  once  say  to  a  conductor, 
when  he  thought  he  had  the  goods  on 
him  and  the  conductor  cleared  himself, 
that  he  was  either  a  fool  for  luck  or  was 
smoother  than  the  average. 


91 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


XL 

THE  MOTHER  AND  THE  DAUGH- 
TER. 

HERE  is  an  experience  that  hap- 
pened to  me  shortly  after  I  en- 
tered the  service  which  made  me 
view  the  job  as  a  joke;  as  nearly  every 
conductor  in  the  service  does  view  it 
and  causes  them  to  adopt  the  attitude  of 
"Get  by  if  you  can,  but  if  you  can't,  don't 
worry,  as  you  won't  lose  anything  if  you 
are  fired." 

At  the  time  this  happened  I  was  run- 
ning on  a  road  from  the  middle  west 
down  south.  This  road  had  two  through 
trains  running  about  an  hour  apart.  I 
was  on  the  second  train  coming  north  on 
this    occasion.      The   first    train    did    the 

92 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

local  work  and  we  on  the  second  train 
handled  the  through  business.  On  a 
branch  line  of  this  road,  off  the  main 
line,  about  20  miles  away,  was  a  hustling 
little  town  in  the  oil  regions.  Two  sec- 
tions or  two  upper  and  two  lower  berths 
were  held  to  be  sold  by  the  ticket  agent 
in  this  town  in  one  of  the  sleeping  cars 
on  the  first  train  going  north.  There  was 
a  local  train  that  ran  between  this  town 
and  a  junction  point  with  the  main  line. 
These  passengers  came  over  on  this  local 
to  the  junction  point  and  there  made  con- 
nection with  the  train  that  carried  the 
sleeping  car  for  which  their  berth  tickets 
called. 

On  this  occasion,  the  two  lower  berths 
were  held  by  an  old  lady  and  her  daugh- 
ter, and  as  the  local  train  had  been  late 
they  had  missed  their  connection  and  the 
first  train   carrying  their  car  had   gone, 

93 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

SO  they  waited  for  the  second  train.  When 
we  arrived  here,  the  ladies  boarded  the 
train,     holding    tickets    for    two    lower 
berths.     Now  remember,  it  was  not  their 
fault  they  had  missed  their  connection, 
but    the    fault   was    of   course    with    the 
train    in   arriving   too   late   for  the   con- 
necting train.    On  my  train  there  was  not 
a  lower  berth  left  and  the  old  lady  was  in 
feeble  health.    It  would  have  been  almost 
impossible  for  her  to  get  into  an  upper 
berth,  and  besides  she  needed  attention 
from  her  daughter  during  the  night. 

I  thought  the  best  thing  to  do  was  to 
give  them  two  lower  berths  in  a  drawing 
room  which  was  vacant,  making  a  nota- 
tion on  the  margin  of  the  diagram  of  the 
car  the  reason  for  my  doing  so.  The 
tickets  held  by  these  passengers  were 
worth  $2  apiece  and  where  a  berth  is 
sold  for  $2  the  drawing  room  between 
the  same  points  is  sold  for  $7. 

94 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

Next  morning  when  I  turned  in  my 
reports  the  company  showed  its  appre- 
ciation for  the  way  I  had  handled  the 
matter  by  making  me  pay  $3,  the  differ- 
ence in  the  value  of  the  tickets  and  the 
price  of  the  drawing  room.  Now  had  I 
put  these  two  ladies  in  upper  berths,  they 
would  have  had  a  clear  case  for  a  lawsuit 
and  damages  against  the  company,  as 
they  would  have  paid  for  something  in 
good  faith  and  through  no  fault  of  their 
own,  had  not  received  it. 

I  will  add  now  that  a  couple  of  years 
ago  this  rule  was  modified,  so  that 
the  very  thing  I  did  at  that  time  is  now 
permitted.  Perhaps  this  change  was 
caused  by  a  lawsuit  or  two,  or  perhaps 
some  official  looked  over  the  rules  who 
happened  to  have  a  little  horse  sense,  and 
suggested  the  change. 

Do  you  wonder  that  few  men  stick 
with  the  job?    They  say  Russia  has  the 

95 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

best  spy  system  in  the  world,  but  in  my 
Opinion  it  could  learn  a  whole  lot  from 
the  Pullman  company.  The  company 
calls  its  spies  special  agents,  or  private 
detectives,  if  you  wish — but  what  they 
really  are  is  spotters.  So  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  learn  these  spotters  are  not 
in  the  direct  employ  of  the  company,  but 
this  work  is  given  out  by  contract  with 
various  detective  agencies. 

One  of  the  greatest  presidents  this 
country  ever  had  said,  I  believe,  that  "the 
best  way  to  clinch  an  argument  was  to 
tell  a  story  that  would  illustrate  the  point 
of  argument." 


96 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


XII. 
THE  MARRIED  SPOTTERS. 

NOW  listen  to  this  little  story.  I 
heard  it  pretty  straight  and  be- 
lieve that  it  is  a  fact.  I  will  show 
the  methods  that  were  used  and  tolerated 
by  the  company  to  get  one  conductor's 
job.  This  man  was  Pullman  conductor 
on  a  train  which  had  on  board,  among 
other  passengers,  a  well-dressed  and  very 
pretty  woman  and  a  gentleman  (that  at 
least  is  what  the  conductor  thought  he 
was).  These  two  passengers  of  course 
had  different  berths  and  apparently  were 
total  strangers.  This  man  made  such  a 
good  impression  on  the  conductor  and 
appeared  to  be  such  a  good  fellow  that 
the  conductor,  upon  being  invited  by  him, 

97 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

consented  to  have  dinner  with  him  in 
the  dining  car.  During  the  meal,  the 
man  suggested  ordering  a  couple  of  bot- 
tles of  beer,  and  as  the  conductor  thought 
he  was  all  to  the  good,  he  agreed,  where- 
upon he  ordered  from  the  waiter,  telling 
him  to  serve  the  conductor's  in  a  china 
mug  so  it  could  not  be  seen  what  he 
was  drinking.  He  said  to  the  conductor 
afterwards,  "I  know  it  is  against  the  rules 
for  you  to  drink  on  duty,  but  a  bottle  of 
beer  will  do  you  no  harm." 

He  then  brought  up  the  subject  of  the 
woman,  asking  the  conductor  if  he  had 
any  objection  if  he  tried  to  get  acquainted 
with  her,  as  he  believed  there  was  "some- 
thing in  sight"  there. 

By  this  time  the  man  had  got  entirely 
into  the  confidence  of  the  conductor  who 
answered  him  by  telling  him  to  go  as 
far  as  he  liked.     Thereafter  the  success 

98 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

this  man  had  with  the  lady  was  remark- 
able, to  say  the  least,  and  should  have 
caused  the  conductor  to  become  suspi- 
cious, he  being  allowed  by  the  lady  to 
share  her  berth  with  her.  Now!  Now! 
sh — h — but  read  the  rest  of  the  story. 
The  man  had  given  the  conductor  his 
supposed  name  and  said  he  would  stop 
at  a  certain  hotel  and  for  the  conductor 
to  call  around  next  day  and  see  him  if 
he  could. 

A  prominent  detective  has  said,  "That 
every  criminal  will  do  some  little  thing 
that  will  give  him  away,"  as  this  one  did, 
for  he  actually  stopped  at  the  hotel  where 
he  had  told  the  conductor  to  call. 

But  listen!  Next  morning,  after  the 
conductor  had  turned  in  his  reports,  he 
was  called  in  on  the  carpet  and  was  dis- 
charged. He  was  very  likely  surprised 
by  this  jolt." 

99 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  PULLMAN  CONDUCTOR 

During  the  day  he  happened  to  think 
about  the  man  he  had  met  the  night  be- 
fore on  the  train  and  thought  he  would 
call  around  and  see  him ;  he  was  a  pretty 
good  fellow  and  might  use  his  influence 
to  help  him  get  another  job.  As  he  en- 
tered the  lobby  of  the  hotel,  he  saw  his 
man  leaving  the  desk  and  was  a  little 
surprised  to  see  the  lady  of  the  night 
before  with  him,  they  taking  the  elevator 
to  an  upper  floor  together. 

Going  over  to  the  clerk  he  asked, 
"What  room  has  Mr.  Jones?" 

The  clerk  informed  him  that  no  Mr. 
Jones  was  stopping  there. 

"Why,"  said  the  conductor,  very  much 
surprised,  "he  just  went  up  in  the  elevator 
with  a  lady." 

"Oh,"  said  the  clerk,  "that  was  Mr. 
and   Mrs.   Smith." 

The    conductor    then    saw    a    sudden 

300 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

light.  So  that  was  their  game.  This  man 
was  a  spotter,  and  was  traveling  around 
the  country  with  his  wife,  who  was  also 
a  spotter,  and  if  any  conductor  allowed 
him  to  pull  this  stunt  ofif  on  the  car,  he 
would  report  him  and  have  him  fired. 

I  don't  know  which  is  the  most  dis- 
honest, the  company  which  would  use 
these  underhand  means  to  catch  a  man 
or  the  man  who  is  caught  in  some 
crooked  act  in  this  way. 

If  I  had  been  this  conductor,  I  would 
have  gone  out  and  hunted  up  the  biggest 
Chicagoan  I  could  find,  with  the  prover- 
bial big  feet  preferred,  and  had  him  kick 
me  the  entire  length  of  State  street.  But 
the  rest  of  this  story  is  too  good  not 
to  tell. 

That  evening  the  conductor  was  sit- 
ting down  in  the  depot  telling  some  of 
his  brother  conductors  about  the  way  he 

101 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


had  been  taken  in  by  this  pair,  when  who 
popped  in  the  door  but  the  aforesaid  Mrs. 
Smith,  and  pretty  soon  the  man  came  in 
also ;  but  they  never  spoke  and  acted  like 
strangers  to  each  other.  There  was  only 
one  train  they  could  take.  At  about  this 
time  this  conductor  hunted  up  the  man 
who  was  going  out  on  this  train  and  told 
him  about  the  game.  Sure  enough,  they 
got  on  and  the  man  started  to  work  the 
same  thing  again.  He  and  the  conductor 
went  to  supper  together  at  his  invitation. 
Only  this  conductor  passed  up  the  beer. 
He  was  allowed  to  carry  out  everything 
else  he  did  the  night  before,  until  along 
about  12  o'clock  that  night,  when  he  had 
got  to  sleep,  the  train  conductor  went  to 
the  berth  with  the  Pullman  conductor, 
and  he  was  made  to  get  up  and  was  put 
off  the  train  despite  his  wife's  tearful 
pleading  that  he  was  her  husband.     He 


102 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

had  nothing  on  to  speak  of  when  he  was 
put  off,  and  what  he  did  have  on  should 
not  be  spoken  of.  His  wife  left  the  train 
at  the  next  town  and  I  presume  the  wires 
were  kept  pretty  hot  until  they  got  each 
other  located.  This  last  conductor  was 
not  fired,  and  heard  nothing  about  the 
matter  further. 


103 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

XIII. 

HOW  THE   SPOTTER  WORKS. 

I  AM  going-  to  try  and  tell  here  some 
of  the  ways  a  spotter  works  and 
what  kind  of  man  he  is. 

On  a  good  many  occasions  he  comes 
running  down  to  the  train  at  the  last 
minute  and  says,  "Conductor,  I  did  not 
have  time  to  buy  a  berth,  can  you  fix  me 
up?" 

As  the  conductor  generally  has  space 
left,  he  sells  him  a  berth.  He  does  this 
to  see  if  he  is  given  a  receipt,  as  he  has 
a  chance  to  pay  in  cash.  Perhaps  he 
asks  for  a  berth  near  the  end  of  the  car. 
Here  he  can  get  a  better  view  of  what 
occurs.  He  then  explains  that  he  does 
not  sleep  well  and  gets  up  several  times 

104 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

during  the  night — that  is  to  put  the  con- 
ductor off  his  guard  so  he  won't  get  sus- 
picious if  he  sees  him  prowling  around 
the  car  like  some  sneak  thief.  What  he 
really  gets  up  for  is  to  see  if  he  can  catch 
the  conductor  or  porter  asleep.  Perhaps 
then  when  the  conductor  is  alone  with 
him  in  the  smoking-room,  he  will  offer  a 
cigar,  telling  him  to  go  ahead  and  enjoy 
himself,  and  not  mind  him,  as  he  has 
worked  for  firms  that  did  not  allow 
smoking,  and  knows  how  it  is.  He  then 
springs  a  bottle  of  whisky,  saying,  "This 
is  fine  goods  given  me  by  a  friend  of 
mine;  won't  you  join  me  in  a  little  drink? 
Now,  don't  be  afraid  of  me,  as  you  are 
just  as  safe  to  drink  this  before  me  as 
in  your  own  home." 

A    new   conductor   asked    me    how    I 
knew  a  spotter  when  I  had  one  on  the 
car.    Well,  I  replied,  I  keep  myself  famil- 
ies 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

iar  with  how  spotters  look  by  making  a 
visit  to  the  city  workhouse  about  once  a 
month.  You  know  the  kind,  the  ones 
that  rob  poor  boxes  and  snatch  an  old 
lady's  purse.  If  you  have  a  man  you  are 
suspicious  of,  suddenly  stop,  and  take  a 
sharp  look  in  his  eyes.  If  he  is  guilty,  he 
will  dodge  like  you  threw  a  brick  at  him. 
Besides  this,  a  crook  will  look  like  a 
crook ;  they  may  be  able  to  look  you  in 
the  eyes  a  little  too  steady,  or  perhaps 
they  can't  look  you  in  the  eye  at  all ;  and 
the  best  advice  I  can  give  you,  is  to  watch 
the  man  who  looks  crooked. 

Dealing  with  this  line  of  crooks 
makes  a  conductor  suspicious  of  every 
one  he  meets,  and  when  a  real  man  offers 
him  a  drink  or  a  cigar,  he  cannot  accept 
it  without  being  afraid  he  will  be  re- 
ported. Now  in  the  past  few  years  the 
company  has  broadened  out  a  little  and 

106 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

has  what  they  call  a  service  inspector. 
I  will  say  here  that  there  is  very  little 
criticism  by  the  men  of  these  inspectors, 
as  they  are  open  and  above  board,  carry- 
ing passes,  saying  who  they  are  and  don't 
sneak,  as  a  rule.  The  only  suggestion 
I  would  make  about  them  is,  that  they 
should  make  it  a  point  to  get  on  the 
trains  once  in  a  while  at  some  time  be- 
sides 2  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  not 
get  on  so  often  at  some  flag  stop. 
Some  of  these  men  have  been  nicknamed 
"Watertank  Inspectors."  These  make  it 
a  point  to  know  where  the  passenger 
trains  stop  for  water  and  board  the  train 
there  in  the  hope  that  they  will  find 
something  wrong. 

^     ^     ^ 

Now,  to  go  back  for  a  moment  to  this 
bonus  of  an  extra  month's  pay  to  every 
man  who  goes  through  the  year  with  a 

107 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDLTCTOR 

clear  record.  That  means  that  at  the 
end  of  the  year  the  record  must  be  clear 
of  the  demerit  marks;  or,  if  you  should 
get  a  bad  report  after  July  1st  and  get 
five  demerit  marks  as  a  result  of  it,  that 
would  not  allow  you  to  participate  in  the 
extra  month's  salary. 

The  Pullman  company  has  a  system 
of  book  suspension,  which  works  like 
this:  The  company  gives  the  conductor 
five  days,  say,  for  a  bad  report,  but  in- 
stead of  taking  him  out  of  the  service 
without  pay  for  five  days,  as  in  former 
times,  it  is  marked  against  his  record,  and 
enough  days  or  demerit  marks  in  a  given 
time   means   discharge. 

Now  take  the  men  on  the  long  run 
or  the  runs  where  they  are  two  nights 
going  and  two  nights  returning  to  their 
starting  point,  which  is  four  nights  and 
two   full   days   on   the   road.     This   con- 

108 


CONFESSIONS      OF      A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

ductor  works  36  hours  with  six  hours 
sleep,  three  hours  each  night ;  now  the 
second  night  he  is  worn  out  and  if  he  is 
caught  asleep  by  some  spotter  on  the 
car,  or  if  the  service  inspector  gets  on 
at  2  in  the  morning  and  catches  him 
asleep,  he  gets  15  days  and  loses  his  extra 
month's  pay.  That  is  generally  about  the 
point  in  a  conductor's  life  when  friend- 
ship ceases  and  he  begins  to  figure  on 
how  to  "get  his." 

The  company  was  wise  to  get  up  that 
bonus  system  instead  of  a  raise  in  salary, 
as  it  knew  only  about  half  the  men  or 
less  would  be  able  to  go  under  the  wire 
with  a  clean  l)ill.  The  prize  box  game  is 
for  Sunday  schools  and  kindergartens, 
but  it  is  not  the  way  to  deal  with  men. 
When  a  man  or  a  company  of  men  are 
dealing  with  other  men,  the  fact  should 
never  be  lost  sight  of  that  they  are  men 

109 


CONFESSIONS      OF      A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

themselves.  If  I  had  a  man  working  for 
me  to  whom  I  had  to  give  a  prize  to  get 
him  to  do  his  work  properly,  I  would 
know  that  there  was  one  of  two  things 
the  matter :  that  I  was  either  not  paying 
that  man  what  he  was  worth  or  he  was 
no  good. 

Don't  think  that  I  am  opposed  to  a 
firm  giving  its  employes  a  bonus  or  hav- 
ing a  profit-sharing  arrangement.  There 
is  a  large  plumbing  concern  in  the  United 
States  that  has  accomplished  wonderful 
results  by  allowing  the  men  to  share  in 
the  profits  they  have  earned  for  the 
company. 

I  should  like  to  ask  this  hypothetical 
question,  as  a  layman  speaking  to  ex- 
perts :  That  if  the  board  of  directors  of 
the  Pullman  company  decided  that  their 
district  superintendents  all  over  the  coun- 
try were  not  being  paid  enough,  whether 

110 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

they  would  raise  each  one  a  few  dollars 
a  month,  or  send  out  a  notice  that  each 
superintendent  who  came  to  his  office 
at  7  o'clock  every  morning  and  remained 
there  until  6  o'clock  in  the  evening  for 
each  consecutive  day  of  the  year,  would 
be  given  a  bonus  of  a  month's  salary  at 
the  end  of  the  year?  You  would  hear  the 
echo  of  the  howl  that  would  go  up  in 
Africa,  and  you  would  hear  them  say, 
"What  do  you  think  we  are,  a  bunch  of 
school  girls?" 

It  makes  no  difference  how  hard  you 
may  drive  a  workhorse,  he  can't  win  in 
a  race  of  thoroughbreds.  A  man  that  is 
paid  cheap  will  do  cheap  work.  If  I  was 
a  manufacturer,  and  one  of  my  foremen 
came  to  me  and  said,  "I  can  reduce  your 
operating  expenses  by  getting  cheaper 
men  to  do  the  work  and  forcing  them 
harder,"  I  would  fire  him  on  the  spot ;  but 

111 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

if  he  said  we  would  get  better  results  out 
of  the  men  by  giving  them  more  light  and 
air,  and  improving  the  working  condi- 
tions and  be  able  to  reduce  expenses  by 
cutting  down  the  force  and  paying  the 
expert  workmen  more,  I  would  investi- 
gate his  plan. 

I  once  worked  at  a  place  where  we 
had  to  leave  the  building  to  get  a  decent 
drink  of  water.  Now  the  wise  employer 
of  men  is  putting  in  reading  and  smoking 
rooms  where  the  men  can  go  and  eat 
their  lunch  and  read  and  rest  instead  of 
eating  in  the  alley  or  going  to  saloons. 
Fair  treatment  and  a  square  deal  to  em- 
ployes is  the  greatest  asset  any  firm  can 
have. 

I  am  going  to  say  a  few  words  about 
the  porter  and  his  whiskbroom.  First,  let 
us  take  the  porters  on  tourist  cars  or 
second-class   sleeping   cars.     These   cars 

112 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDQCTOR 

generally  operate  on  long  through  runs, 
like  from  St.  Louis  or  Chicago  to  points 
in  California.  Some  run  from  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  to  California  via  New  Orleans  ; 
some  run  even  from  Boston.  These  cars, 
as  they  are  second-class,  generally  run  on 
slow  trains,  and  are  used  mostly  for  col- 
onists and  homeseekers.  A  trip  from  St. 
Louis  or  Chicago  to  California  on  these 
trains  requires  from  four  to  five  nights  on 
the  road. 


113 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

XIV. 
PORTER  IN  UPPER  NUMBER  ONE. 

NE  of  the  rules  of  the  Pulhnan 
company  reads  something  like 
this : 

"Porters  of  tourist  cars  will  be  re- 
lieved about  four  hours  during  the  day 
for  rest." 

The  majority  of  the  readers  of  this 
article  have  never  been  in  a  tourist  car, 
let  alone  having  ridden  in  one.  The  por- 
ter is  permitted  to  sleep  in  upper  berth 
No.  1  only.  If  you  have  ever  laid  on 
a  hard  mattress  with  your  face  about 
six  inches  from  a  tin  roof  in  August, 
with  the  sun  boiling  down  on  this  roof, 
you  can  get  an  idea  of  the  form  of  tor- 
ture I  am  going  to  explain. 

114 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

The  porter  is  supposed  to  turn  into 
this  Turkish  bath  about  11  o'clock  A.  M., 
generally  the  coolest  part  of  the  day,  and 
as  the  train  skims  merrily  over  the  plains 
of  Kansas  or  the  Panhandle  of  Texas  or 
over  one  of  the  delightful  deserts  of  the 
west,  he  lays  up  there  enjoying  the  "scen- 
ery." (This  berth  has  no  opening  at  top, 
bottom  or  end.  The  only  place  he  can 
get  out  is  where  he  got  in  and  that  must 
be  kept  tightly  closed  with  heavy  berth 
curtains.)  He  also  listens  to  several  old 
maids  talking  over  the  chance  of  getting 
a  man  in  California  "where  women  are 
scarce,"  or  the  gentle  wailing  of  some 
two-year-old  hero  calling  for  the  old 
housecat  that  was  left  behind ;  and,  by 
the  way,  that  is  generally  the  only  thing 
that  is  left  behind  by  these  tourist  car 
colonists.  Everything  else  is  usually  sold 
to  buy  a  one-way  ticket  to  what  the  pas- 

115 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

seiiger  agents  have  made  them  believe 
is  the  Land  of  Opportunity.  Nero  may 
have  been  a  torture  expert  in  his  day, 
but  his  most  styHsh  kind  of  torture  com- 
pared with  this,  proves  him,  according  to 
my  idea,  the  rankest  dub. 

Speaking  of  being  hog-tied  and  laid 
on  an  ant  hill  and  slowly  bit  into  nine 
million  bites,  or  being  tied  to  a  wild 
horse  and  dragged  to  death,  why  that's 
pleasure  compared  to  this.  Sleep  and 
rest!     You  are  lucky  if  you  live. 

Imagine,  if  you  can,  lying  on  your 
back  on  this  sticky  mattress,  being  rolled 
back  and  forth  and  at  each  outside  turn 
part  of  the  skin  rubbed  ofif  of  your  nose 
against  the  roof,  and  lying  in  a  puddle  of 
your  own  perspiration,  with  the  ther- 
mometer 110  in  the  shade,  with  forty-nine 
different  kinds  of  noises  all  around  you ! 

Instead   of  being   able   to   woo   Mor- 

IIG 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

pheus  into  giving  him  peaceful  sleep,  the 
porter  is  more  likely,  according  to  the 
way  he  feels  and  looks  when  he  gets  up, 
to  have  been  flirting  with  death  and  the 
devil.  Now,  when  this  man  crawls  into 
this  2x4  oven,  he  has  usually  been  on 
duty  from  20  to  24  hours ;  then,  after  four 
hours,  if  he  lives  and  sticks  it  out  that 
long,  he  comes  down  and  is  on  duty  again 
from  3  P.  M.  until  11  A.  M.  the  next  day 
— twenty  hours  on  duty  and  four  hours 
off,  and  so  on  for  the  five  days  and  five 
nights  he  is  on  the  way,  or  longer.  He 
gives  one  hundred  hours'  work  with 
twenty  hours'  rest,  or  trying  to  rest. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  these  men  don't 
give  good  service  and  that  they  have  a 
perpetual  grouch,  but  don't  say  anything, 
as  Upper  1  is  likely  on  their  minds? 

The  porters  on  second-class  cars  get 
$5   more   per   month   than   men   on   first- 

117 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

class  cars,  which  makes  their  pay  $32.50 
per  month.  I  cannot  account  for  this 
generosity  on  the  company's  part.  Does 
it  seem  strange  that  this  man  will  do 
anything  to  get  money,  or  is  it  any  won- 
der he  will  take  a  bribe  from  a  passenger 
to  let  him  do  anything  he  wishes  and 
work  together  with  the  passenger  to  put 
something  over  on  the  conductor  by  help- 
ing him  take  advantage  of  some  woman 
on  the  car? 

The  company  charges  its  patrons  all 
the  traffic  will  bear  and  the  services  of 
the  porter  and  his  shining  of  shoes  should 
and  have  been  paid  for  when  the  passen- 
ger pays  for  his  berth.  The  Pullman 
company  does  not  even  furnish  the  porter 
with  the  brushes  or  shoe  polish  with 
which  he  shines  its  patron's  shoes ;  but 
one  thing  it  does  do  is  to  hold  a  porter 
responsible  for  the  linen  on  the  car,  and 

118 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A      PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

any    shortage    that    occurs    he    has    to 
pay  for. 

I  have  had  porters  tell  me  that  for  a 
year  or  two  at  a  stretch  they  never  drew 
a  full  month's  pay.  It  does  not  look  fair 
that  the  men  drawing  a  salary  of  this 
kind  should  be  forced  to  keep  up  the 
linen  supply  of  a  hundred  million  dollar 
corporation.  I  venture  to  say  that  the 
porters  just  about  buy  all  the  new  linen 
needed  by  the  company. 


119 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 


XV. 
THE    GRAFT. 

THE  graft  is  this :  The  porter  who 
sHps  the  man  who  counts  linen  a 
little  change  is  never  short, 
while  the  poor  sucker  that  won't  stand 
for  this  graft  has  to  pay  his  shortage  and 
the  other  man's  also.  If  a  guest  should 
steal  a  towel  from  a  hotel,  should  the 
bellboy  have  to  pay  for  it?  When  you 
order  a  bill  of  goods  from  a  firm  to  be 
delivered  to  your  home,  you  don't  have 
to  give  the  delivery  boy  a  half  dollar  to 
bring  it  out  to  your  house.  The  firm  pays 
him  wages  for  delivering  goods  for  them. 
The  traveling  public  should  be  pro- 
tected by  law  and  not  have  to  stand  this 
petty  graft  in  paying  for  the  service  they 
have  already  bought.     There  should  be 

120 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

a  national  interstate  law  against  tipping. 
Is  it  strange  a  company  of  this  kind  can 
pile  up  an  enormous  cash  surplus  when  it 
doesn't  have  to  pay  its  own  employes? 

So  when  the  porter  comes  to  you  in 
the  morning  with  his  broom,  don't  be  too 
hard  on  him.  Remember  as  you  give  him 
his  quarter  that  it  is  not  so  much  his 
imposition  on  you  for  this  tip,  as  that  is 
the  way  he  is  forced  to  make  his  living, 
but  that  of  the  company  that  has  built  up 
this  system  to  make  you  pay  its  employes. 

We  will  leave  the  porter  here  and  go 
back  to  the  conductor.  It  has  got  to  be 
the  rule  in  a  good  many  parts  of  this 
country  where  the  travel  on  certain  trains 
in  thickly  populated  districts  is  heavy  or 
where  the  road  has  not  much  competition 
and  don't  run  enough  trains  to  handle  the 
business  properly.  On  these  trains  the 
Pullman  conductor  does  a  good  business 
by    giving    the    man    that    hands    him    a 

121 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

dollar  extra  the  preference  for  lower 
berths.  This  is  pretended  not  to  be 
known  by  the  company,  but  as  these  runs 
are  so  strongly  sought  after  by  con- 
ductors that  a  blind  man  could  tell  the 
reason,  but  of  course  the  company  appre- 
ciates the  fact  that  this  helps  them  to 
keep  wages  down,  so  they  take  what  the 
gods  provide  and  don't  put  forth  much 
efifort  to  stop  it.  For  when  the  public 
pays,  you  hear  nothing  from  the  company 
except  large  gobs  of  silence,  but  when  it 
has  to  pay  we  hear  howls  from  all  sides. 
Before  I  leave  the  conductor  and  tips,  I 
am  going  to  say,  as  much  as  I  regret  to 
do  so,  that  some  conductors  will,  for  the 
feel  of  a  five-dollar  bill,  allow  some  man 
on  the  car  to  try  and  corrupt  the  morals 
of  some  lady  passenger,  whom  the  con- 
ductor by  all  means  should  protect.  I 
can  think  of  nothing  I  would  rather  not 
look  back  upon  in  my  old  age  or  have  to 

122 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

account  for  when  I  die,  than  that  at  some 
time  in  my  past  I  had  taken  money  in 
payment  for  permitting  some  man  to  im- 
pose on  some  man's  wife  or  daughter.  I 
am  glad  to  say  that  a  dollar  of  this  kind 
was  never  touched  by  me. 

'p  'h  T* 

I  am  going  to  refer  again  on  the  spy 
system  in  this  way:  When  a  spotter  of 
the  company  sends  in  a  bad  report  about 
a  conductor,  for  instance,  the  report  is 
something  like  this :  The  spotter  checks 
up  the  number  of  passengers  on  the  car 
and  finds  out  there  are  twenty  passengers 
on  board.  The  report  of  the  conductor  for 
this  car,  we  will  say,  shows  only  fifteen 
passengers,  which  means  that  this  con- 
ductor has  collected  cash  fares  from  these 
other  five  passengers  who  are  on  the  car 
and  has  kept  the  money. 

Now  you  would  think  this  conductor 
would  be  discharged  upon  receipt  of  this 

123 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A      PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

spotter's  report,  but  if  this  happens  to  be 
his  first  offense,  he  is  only  warned,  or 
perhaps  made  to  pay  this  money  back. 
Do  you  think  anything  is  wrong  with  a 
system  Hke  that? 

If  a  man  works  for  you  and  you  were 
even  suspicious  that  he  was  crooked  you 
would  discharge  him,  of  course,  but  not 
so  the  Pullman  company,  for  it  doesn't 
trust  these  spotters  any  too  well  them- 
selves and  know  they  are  crooked  and 
would  as  soon  write  a  lie  as  the  truth. 
Another  reason  is,  the  managers  are 
afraid  the  next  man  they  hire,  if  they  fire 
this  one,  will  be  worse,  and  they  would 
rather  take  a  chance  on  the  one  they 
have,  thinking  that  he  might  not  take 
very  much,  than  to  get  another  man  that 
might  take  it  all.  I  don't  believe  there 
is  a  business  man  in  the  world  out  of  a 
padded  cell  who  believes  he  could  get 
results  by  operating  under  such  a  system. 

124 


CONFESSIONS      OF     A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 


XVI. 
THE  REMEDY. 

IN  ENDING,  let  me  suggest  a  few 
things  that  might  help  to  defeat 
these  "Love  Diplomats"  and  protect 
ladies  on  the  trains,  cut  out  most  of  the 
graft,  and  do  general  good  all  around  and 
improve  the  service.  The  first  is  a  decent 
living  salary  for  porters  and  conductors, 
and  not  more  than  a  16-hour  working 
day. 

The    run    I    am    on    at    present — but 

which  I  shall  not  be  on  when  this  book 
is  published — changes  crews  four  times 
between  the  time  I  get  on  and  where  I 
get  ofif,  and  every  man  of  the  crew  gets 
from  $30  to  $90  a  month  more  salary 
and   gets   as   much   rest   for   working  on 

125 


CONFESSIONS      OF      A      PULLMAN      CONDUCTOR 

an    average   of   ten    hours   as    I    get    for 
working  four  nights  and  two  days. 

Another  thing  I  would  suggest  is  to 
have  a  white  man  on  duty  at  all  times  on 
the  cars,  and  if  they  are  paid  well,  they 
will  take  care  of  the  job,  can't  be  bought 
so  easily,  and  won't  permit  so  much  im- 
moraHty  among  travelers.  The  abolish- 
ment of  the  spotter  and  adding  more 
service  inspectors,  with  the  understand- 
ing that  when  a  new  man  is  hired  that 
the  first  crooked  move  he  makes  he  will 
not  be  warned  but  discharged  would  be 
an  improvement,  for  if  a  good  salary  is 
paid  there  need  be  no  hesitation  to  dis- 
charge a  man  and  not  be  able  to  replace 
him  with  a  better  one.  The  doing  away 
with  the  "third  degree"  that  is  used  ex- 
tensively by  the  Pullman  company  when 
a  man  is  called  before  the  superintendent 
would  work  wonders  in  the  service.    The 

126 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

Chicago  police  should  take  note  that  the 
Pullman  company  was  using  the  "third 
degree"  when  Chicago  was  a  village.  The 
company  should  inject  a  few  men  of 
broader  intellect,  and  with  modern  ideas 
under  their  hats,  who  would  believe  in 
more  co-operation  with  employes,  fair 
treatment  and  a  square  deal  all  around. 
Then  there  would  l)e  more  dividends,  less 
friction,  pleasant  association  and  good 
service. 

If  this  statement  of  facts  accomplishes 
nothing  else  but  to  serve  as  a  warning  to 
women  who  travel  to  beware  of  the 
"Love  Diplomats"  on  the  train,  it  v.'iil 
have  done  a  good  work  indeed. 

I  want  to  wind  this  up  with  a  little 
story  about  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission.  In  an  argument  with  the 
Pullman  company,  the  I.  C.  C.  asked  the 
Pullman    company    representative    what 

127 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     PULLMAN     CONDUCTOR 

heading  its  employes  came  under.  The 
Pullman  agent  answered,  "Railroad 
men."  The  I.  C.  C.  asked,  "Well,  in  that 
case  why  don't  you  observe  the  16-hour 
law?" 

The  agent  answered  again,  "Our  men 
are  not  railroad  men,  they  are  hotel 
employes." 

The  I.  C.  C.  came  back  with  the  reply 
that  if  such  were  the  case  the  men  would 
have  to  have  railroad  tickets,  as  it  was 
against  the  interstate  law  for  a  man  who 
is  not  a  railroad  man  to  ride  free  on  the 
train. 

The  Pullman  company  representative 
came  back  hot  ofit  the  bat  that  their  men 
did  not  come  under  either  one  of  these 
ratings,  but  were  carried  by  the  Pullman 
company  as  part  of  the  equipment  of  the 
cars.  To  the  best  of  my  knowledge  the 
I.  C.  C.  has  not  whispered  since. 

128 


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